reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

The main character in this book is the epitome of "I'm not like other girls". I could not STAND her, or Ava. They claimed everyone else in the school was so pretentious, but they were by far the most pretentious characters. 

I also couldn't get over how she kept saying it was an awful town, but didn't leave?? Is your career really more important than your life?? 

What a pretentious pile of delusion. The main character was just way too annoying for me to carry on reading. 

This series definitely has the potential to be one of my favourites of all time. 

It is such an interesting concept, where pretty much everything can be explored, and it seems that McGuire has the talent to do so. 

I didn't feel as emotionally 
invested in these characters as I did with some in the first book, probably because I couldn't personally relate to them as much, but I still really enjoyed my time with them. 

More please!

On the plus side I can say that this book was by FAR better than the first two of this Era, on the negative side, it was still nowhere close to being as good as the Era 1 trilogy. 'Hero of Ages' has one of the best book endings I've ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the Era 1 experience, so the poor quality of Era 2 is truly baffling. Sanderson is clearly very good at writing complex ideas that are built up over long books, and I can only assume that he doesn't have the skillset to write shorter books with more compact ideas.
 
From the start of this book I could tell that it was going to be bounds better than the first two in the series. I was actually interested in the storyline, and way more invested in the characters. I think this is because this book actually introduces new magical elements where characters are experiencing the new discoveries on page, rather than us just being told about them. It has more complexity and energy, with deeper thoughts, emotions, and reactions to events. 
 
To compare the series so far:
 
 - Book 1 was not great, but being set in a new time period and incorporating new versions of magic use saved it a little.
 - Book 2 was just BAD, there was zero magic development and a boring plot.
 - This book has interesting magical elements and other new aspects of the world being introduced, and the plot is developed well. The characters and their relationships are much more endearing, and I actually found myself caring about them at points. 
 
Though the characters and the relationships between them were so much better than the first two books, they unfortunately still weren't that great. I never felt any of the animosity between Suit and Wax, and the tension between our group and the Set felt forced and lacklustre - that whole plotline has just felt underdeveloped and rushed despite being a through-plot in all of the books. I thought Telsin was boring and cliche. I did, however, really enjoy the relationships between Melaan/Wayne and Steris/Wax and how they developed, and as always Wayne is by far the best character, mainly because he actually feels like a fully realised person compared to everyone else who still feel very flat after three whole books... I also liked the new characters; they were fully realised from the beginning and I got a real sense of who they were. However, it seemed insane that as people who live in a freezing cold environment and have lived that way for generations, cold would affect them MORE than people used to a warmer climate?? That's like saying polar bears would freeze to death quicker than lions, a truly bizarre piece of logic from Sanderson. 
 
Unfortunately, the middle of the book was a real low point, especially compared to the freshness of the beginning. About half way through the story my interest in it just vanished. Physical descriptions of fights etc. became confusing and clunky, the 'action' was boring and didn't have any real stakes, and I often found myself forgetting the character's goals because even the characters didn't seem to care that much about them. 
 
The worldbuilding was also an issue for me. The weird industrial yet still almost archaic fantasy setting is not described well enough for me to feel immersed in the story. It felt confused and I had no clear picture in my head of anything, even though I am an extremely visual reader. I understand what Sanderson was trying to go for, but it wasn't executed well enough. It feels like he didn't spend enough time developing his own world building - either that or he didn't have enough space in such a short novel to describe everything in enough detail. 
 
Throughout the entire book it was so obvious that Wax and Wayne weren't going to die, they're the main characters, and by now I know that Sanderson wouldn't do that. This meant that every single one of their 'close to death' moments had ZERO stakes, and I felt absolutely no stress or excitement during these moments. 
 
THEN, what's completely wild about the book is that it picks up in the last 100 pages, and actually feels like the first glimpse of real Sanderson in this Era so far. Finally, some interesting and truly intriguing ideas! Did it REALLY need to take so long to get here?? 
 
Though the ending is on a totally different level to the rest of the Era, it is unfortunately still very predictable. The 'twists' were either blindingly obvious or held no weight, and the stakes felt very low, if they even existed at all.  
 
The last two or three pages were the only time I felt true shock and excitement, even though I had already accidentally spoiled it for myself by reading 'The Secret History' too early. I'm hoping this is a sign that 'The Lost Metal' is better than these last three disappointing books. I’m honestly not sure why I have continued the series otherwise. 
 
To conclude, my final gripe with this book, as with all of the others in Era 2, is that the only points of true interest and excitement occur when Era 1 characters or elements are brought back. The core Era 2 characters have almost no substance to them, and can't stand on their own at all. I'm just so confused how this series has sunk so low after such an impressive start... 

After reading the 'Book of the Unnamed Midwife' I was hoping for more trans rep in its sequel. For a book about a woman pretending to be a man, there seemed an odd lack of the topic. However, I now wish that this author had NEVER written about trans characters. I honestly can't tell if this author is transphobic or just severely, severely misinformed. Either way, the trans rep in this book is appallingly harmful and inaccurate. 
 
I'm pretty disappointed I'm having to write all of this, because the parts of the book that didn't focus on LGBT issues were actually pretty enjoyable. I loved seeing the different versions of civilisations that had been created over time, and liked the Midwife/idol angle. However, the bad FAR outweighs the good in this case. 
 
Please note that I am a trans man myself, so I am somewhat of an authority on this matter. The following are some of the things that really stuck out in this book:
 
 1. There are many instances where trans/gender non-conforming people are labelled as 'pretending' to be another gender. One of the glaring examples of this is when Etta/Eddy (E from here on) refers to a transwoman as being a 'trick'. Most of the instances of this behaviour come from E's viewpoint, so I am hoping it is just internal transphobia being shown, rather than the author's real beliefs, but it is very difficult to gauge in this book, which isn't usually a good sign. 
 
 2. The book EXPLICITLY states that E became transgender after experiencing sexual trauma. This is an extremely damaging and false idea. Trans people are trans from birth, it is not a result of trauma. In addition, Eddy and Etta are portrayed as being two completely separate identities in E's head. That is not how ANY kind of trans people work, even if they're non-binary or gender fluid. Elison is portraying this transgender character as being a mix of transgender and having a mental health disorder like schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder. This means that Elison clearly equates being trans with having a mental illness, which is completely transphobic and untrue.  
 
 3. Through E we also see Elison being pretty misogynistic. E is Eddy when they're being big, strong and tough, and is Etta when being more emotionally vulnerable, loved, or sexually abused. (In case you don't know Elision, all genders are capable of everything). She also, somehow, in a rugged post-apocalyptic world, managed to make the removal of body hair the desired thing for women - give it a fucking rest!
 
 4. The transwoman character is stated to be trans BECAUSE she was castrated as a child. Excuse me?? That's not how any of that works - castrated boys usually live as men, castration does not change gender. Elison clearly states that the character was one of the catamites (and therefore castrated) but she grows facial hair?? NOT HOW THAT WORKS. Also, its suggested that this character dyes her hair red purely because she's trans - what on Earth is that going to achieve in term of looking more feminine??
 
 5. Elison also puts this transwoman in the villain role towards the end of the book. She is seen as the single reason a whole settlement gets destroyed and its women imprisoned, because she 'corrupts' and steals away a cis-lesbian character, and then sides with the male characters. That's some pretty TERF-y behaviour from Elison.
 
 6. Another less damaging, but still worrying point is that Etta is attracted to every single woman she comes into contact with, and sleeps with the majority of them. This is a horrible stereotype about gay people, that they want to shag every person of the same gender, so it’s pretty misguided that Elison included this in the book.
 
 7. The fact that the main 'avenging angels'/heroes of the book were Mormons, and the religious/supernatural elements that are laced into this book further my belief that Elison is transphobic, as most heavily religious people are, especially in America. 
 
For a book that focuses so much on transgender issues, Elison should have at least done SOME research, which she clearly hasn't. I bet she’s never even had a conversation with a trans person before. It’s also very clear that this book was not read by a single trans person before it was published, or it would never have seen the light of day. 
 
I've read up on Elison and can see she claims to be a very inclusive author, especially for women's issues. I think she's a TERF. If you truly want to be inclusive Elison, please actually listen to the voices you are writing about, rather spewing damaging and inaccurate nonsense that does way more harm than good. 

This book is EVERYTHING that modern fantasy needs. I feel like it has breathed a new life into fantasy, and hopefully many more authors will follow suit. It is so amazingly diverse, in both skin colour and sexuality, and it’s also a beautifully feminist work. Men and women are true equals, holding the same amount of power and responsibility. And thank the Saint that this means there's no “I'd never hurt a woman” trope, because that is starting to really piss me off in fantasy. If a woman has chosen to fight, YOU CAN HURT HER. 
 
I thought the world was beautifully rich and had real depth to it. Every single aspect was completely realised and I felt fully immersed in the world.
 
I really enjoyed every character's view point, and thought their stories meshed together wonderfully. 
 
However, I didn't think this was a perfect book. My main complaint is that I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I was expecting. The whole book was building up to a huge battle, and it lasted for 2 pages. 2 PAGES in an 800-page book. It felt completely rushed, and the stakes never felt that high - probably because no major characters die in the second half of the book. If there had been a little more oomph to the ending, this would have been a 5-star book for me.
 
I thought Tane's ending was completely bewildering. I feel like it was meant to symbolise something, but it just felt really off and unexplained for a standalone book. I like open endings when you can speculate on the future, but Tane's ending was just so out of the blue and too random to be able to properly speculate on anything. If there was a sequel coming it would make sense, but I know one isn't planned so I thought it was a very odd choice.
 
My other gripe is that occasionally there would be a physical description of an event (like an escape or fight) that made zero logical sense. I'm a very visual reader, and at these points I could not for the life of me try to picture what Shannon was describing. It was like she'd been interrupted mid-description and accidentally missed out a couple of lines. Two events like this really stood out to me, and completely took me out of the story. 
 
Overall, despite the above points, I really enjoyed this novel. It is everything I want modern fantasy to be, and I am very much looking forward to reading the prequel.   

I enjoyed what I did read of this, and reading it has satisfied my curiosity around the novel.

However, the thought of reading hundreds more pages of the same thing started to fill me with a little bit of dread, so time to DNF. 

There are 4 sections/stories in this book. 
 
If I had only read the first three, my blissfully ignorant self would have written a review along the following lines:
 
''Some books are able to nourish and fill your soul, and this one certainly did. 
 
As warming and gentle as a cup of coffee on a cold winter's day.''
 
But after the final story Kawaguchi can truly fuck off. 
 
A MAN writing that a woman would willingly sacrifice her life just to give birth?? This woman was CHRONICALLY ill. She knew the second she learned she was pregnant that carrying the baby to term would kill her. Yet apparently that was her dream in life??
 
And not only that, but we are expected to view this as a GOOD, dare I say noble thing to do??! It’s so goddamn selfish. You leave a child without a mother causing extreme heartache in their life, force the dad to be a single father while dealing with the grief of losing his wife who CHOSE death over staying with him, and put the burden of looking after the child on other friends and wider family. And the fact that it is a cis-man writing this just compounds the issue even further. 
 
After processing this last story, I then realised the undercurrent throughout the entire book of women being expected to self-sacrifice to serve others in their life. They were never allowed to follow their own path, or if they did it ended in death. If this was written by a woman, or if the male characters were also self-sacrificing, it would be a different matter. But OF COURSE, it’s only the female characters who have to suffer.
 
It is not that hard to treat women with respect. Men need to grow the fuck up. 

I just couldn't get over how every single woman in this book was so horribly infantalised. 

They were all portrayed as naive, annoying, stupid children who were only there to be murdered or victims.

I didn't notice this in the first book in the series as there was only one woman like this, and it seemed like a genuine character trait. However, the fact that the FOUR main women in this book are all portrayed in such a misogynistic manner meant I couldn't continue reading.

The mystery was relatively interesting, but not enough to wade through so many more hours of this nonsense. 

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but everything just happened too easily and without much conflict. The god wants something, he gets it. Where's the drama?

Also, something about the writing style made me feel detached from the story, and I didn't feel much for the main character, even though she'd been through a lot. 

The nail in the coffin was when the plot turned into a treasure hunt, which I could tell was going to be dragged out and boring. 

This novel has so many shocking, jaw to the flaw moments. Twists and dramatic events just kept coming out of nowhere, and I'm not sure I've ever gasped out loud so much in one book.
 
I loved how fast paced and interwoven the storyline is. Having POVs from so many characters in the same place/during the same events made everything feel so much more real and 3D. 
 
The POVs are also really interesting. They're not just the perspectives from big players e.g. we get the perspective from the first hand of the 'chosen one', rather than from the chosen one themself.
 
I did think some of the plot points were pretty predictable and overused, especially in Corban's story, but so much of the book feels fresh and original despite being published in 2012.
 
I really liked the Welsh influence in many of the names in the book, that's not something you see often. However, this was a very white book. Some characters are described as having 'sun-darkened skin', but that's the only variation from pasty white that's mentioned. This lack of diversity is extremely obvious to me at the moment as I have been reading 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' alongside this book, in which Shannon shows just how easy it is to write a diverse and inclusive book.    

In conclusion, a very strong start to a fantasy series, and I’m very curious to see where it goes next.