unlikelyplaces's Reviews (273)

This series is just incredible. I had some minor complaints about the first book but after that the series just got better and better. Munda does not pull punches in this book. She's not afraid for her good characters to do horrible things and her horrible characters to do good things. 

Where I felt the second book focussed more on the philosophical/political discussions this series has, this third one I think comes back to focussing more on the characters and plot. 

My one complaint about this book was that the middle section felt a little slow, particularly compared to the explosive beginning, but as soon as we got into the third act it was great. 

Will definitely be a new favourite series for me. 

I didn't connect with this the way I wanted to. I loved the concept but I just really struggled to like Penelope as she was portrayed in this. Something about the way she was and the way she spoke about Helen made her come across a bit "I'm not like other girls" and I never really understood her feeling about Odysseus or things that were happening. Good concept, it just lacked emotional depth and I feel like the portrayal of Penelope undermined whatever message Atwood was trying to portray.

Ken Liu demonstrates such incredible diversity as a writer in this short story collection. Through the method of sci-fi and fantasy he explores a a stunning balance of themes from the big ideas of technology, history and politics to the small, intimate details of everyday life like family relationships and finding identity in your heritage. He adapts his writing style perfectly to fit different stories, some being more poetic and metaphorical and others more straightforward. This is the best short story collection I've ever read. Just beautiful.

Didn't like this one quite as much as the first one. It took me a little while to get invested in the mystery but once it got going I loved it.

A nice little snippet of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. This doesn’t just cover Icarus (that’s just a tiny bit) but contains a few of the other myths included in Ovid’s work. A nice little taster of the full thing but if you have no knowledge of mythology you’ll want to keep Google close by to check who everyone is and get the context.

I have to be honest, I don't really understand all the hype around this book. I thought it was fine... The concept was really interesting and I love historical fantasy but for some reason it just fell a little flat for me. 

As I said, the concept and the magic system were so interesting and for me that was the strongest aspect of this. I loved the setting and the general atmosphere. 

I also really liked the way that R.F. Kuang used footnotes throughout to elaborate on things. It felt fitting for a book about academics and provided some really interesting additions. I thought that was very clever.

However, I didn't really connect with the characters that much so when big emotional things started happening I found that I didn't really care. The prose felt extremely modern at times which felt a bit out of place. 

I thought that the themes and messaging in this were really important and it was such an interesting way to explore them. However, I found the way that the themes were delivered to be a bit heavy-handed at times

Finally, I thought that when we reached what should have been the big climax it felt like what should have been a big exciting moment suddenly ground to a halt and there were a few chapters near the end that felt like such a drag which was disappointing. 

So yeah I feel mixed about this. It has so much potential for me to love it but just didn't quite connect the way I was hoping. 

My favourite Abercrombie yet. This book is extremely slow but the way Abercrombie makes you root for horrible characters and change the way you feel about them throughout the story is genius. I know it's what he's known for but it is well deserved, Abercrombie's character work is simply the best that I've ever seen in fantasy.