wulvaen's Reviews (313)

This is a review for the GraphicAudio Audiobook

The most disappointing adaptation of the four secret project books.

I honestly was expecting this to be treated on the same level as his Stormlight Archive books, with the epic music and effects, but it felt so mediocre and bland.

There were huge moments in this book that had been built up to and were epic and actually on par with Stormlight, but the music chosen was more gentle and barely any sound effects, which is crazy.

This didn't feel like a GraphicAudio production, more like a RecordedBooks production, which is fine, but GA always put a lot more effort in over the RecordedBooks audios that featured a full voice cast.

This is my second read through and this book still holds a special ace in my heart. I would call The Way of Kings "Epic Philosophical Fantasy", and this book feels somewhat similar to the ponderous nature of that book, except I'd say this book is philosophical fantasy for us introverts out here!

This book was a beautiful exploration of what it means to be human. Both Yumi and Nikaro learned from eachother and learned from themselves, how hard it is to interact with other people,

to care so deeply for others that you when you let them down you become paralysed and stumble for a way out.

Then there's also how we can get lost in our devotions and responsibilities, whether it be for our job or some role we believe we have, and forget to look around and smell the roses and see the beauty of existence.
Then there is also responsibility itself.

Nikaro's friends unfairly placed all their hopes and dreams upon his success, making their very futures his responsibility,

Yumi being a traditional Yuki-Hejo and having no sense of self and feeling as if there is no choice but her duty and responsibilities.

I will say this, this was Sanderson best example of romance. I do believe his use of romance is often weak, it's usually cringey, one-dimensional and lacking in depth and nuance. But this book, this was great romance, because it was about two people thrust into an unknown situation and in unknown worlds and trying to understand eachother and growing closer emotionally.
Im a big sucker for romance being all about mutual understanding and the emotions, instead of just being about sex or having nothing in common and not even having any chemistry.
There was decent chemistry here and it was just so charming and heartwarming.

But yes, it's not perfect, the ending was definitely a big ol exposition dump delivered by Hoid, which is an illegal writing move Sanderson and you should know better after all this time 🧐

But the book was so relatable, impactful, beautifully written and evoked so much emotion and intrigue that I'm not gonna dock any points from my review. 

This is a review for the GraphicAudio Audiobook

I absolutely LOVED this version of the audiobook!
From the voice acting, the music and sound effects, it dripped with emotion!

You know how certain movie scores just fits with the movie, such as Interstellar, Indiana Jones and the OG Spider-Man films? Well the voice acting, music and even the sound effects all got in perfectly with how I felt this book was when I first read it, it fit so well.

The experience was greatly heightened thanks to this audiobook version. 

This is my second read of this book, it felt much better on the reread, but still the weakest if his Secret Project books.

I absolutely loved the concept, and I loved most of the characters. I thought the use of a white-room narrative was well executed, with some nitpicks, such as remembering a little detail and then telling us the he was actually this or that, without saying he this ks it's what he was, instead he says it like as if it's fact, and so we believe that's his backstory, when it wasn't. It's different when he says stuff like "Oh I think I'm this because I remember this detail", because then at least we can have some wiggle room for speculation, but he repeatedly told us who he was his entire life like as if he actually remembered it, and we take it as fact. Just a little annoying.

Thd other problems I had which I had on my first read was it felt like this weird incompatible mix of an adult book and a YA book. You've got blood and guts and heads blown off and sex talk etc, but then it also had the disneyesque feel to it I find most commonly in YA novels, not to take a crap on those books, it just didn't feel compatible here. And then throw in some love triangle soap opera in to taint a pretty empathetic and impactful character arc, and you've got a mess of a book.

Seriously. There literally this awfully written section where Johnny found out his ex wasn't dead, she faked her death to go undercover and help stop a gang from doing some interdimensional shenanigans, and she didn't break up with Johnny because she didn't wanna hurt his feelings, so she faked her death, as if that wouldn't hurt his feelings, and then tells Johnny once he finds out she's alive that she was cheating on him with his best friend Ryan Chu since the second week of their relationship that went on for a couple years (as far as I remember), all because she found Johnny intriguing, and she was with Ryan because....why? Don't know. And she said all this in front of Ryan too 😂 and this was all after Ryan and Johnny had this nice growth moment together after Ryan seemed like a good guy sick of his friend's bullshit and just wanted him to do better, and Johnny seemed to finally get it and want to do better. Then we find out Ryan was a goddamn hypocrite and the worst kind of good guy, the one that is morally righteous of everyone else but he's alright to be an arsehole. Yuck. It was such an unnecessary part if the plot and it was cringe and such a piece of shitty soap opera. It made the book so much weaker. It came out of nowhere and didn't fit with the book at all. Yuck 🤢🤮

I did, however, still enjoy the experience. Loved the concept, loved the characters, loved the X-Files level of what-ifs and loved the unconventional type of character Johnny ended up being. He was surprising multidimensional (pun intended 😏).
I empathised very deeply with him, he had a lot of self worth issues and had a lot of bad friends in his life, yeah, I'm talking about you, Ryan Chu 🖕.
Johnny had some bad luck and that turned into him seeing himself deserving of it and that he was worthless, and that just meant life kept throwing snow at him until it avalanched and he was stuck, lost, in this self-destructive rut, while his supposed best friend just judged him and belittled him and made him feel further useless and bedded his girlfriend behind his back for years. Johhny deserved a lot better. He might be one of my favourite Sanderson characters, especially on my second read and the new experiences I personally have gone through to make him more relatable.

On my first read I rsted this a 3, I'm going to be more generous this time and give it a 3.75. It's still a good concept that could have been executed better and was injected with YA Soap opera bullshit. 

A Review of the GraphicAudio Audiobook

I much preferred this audiobook over the original audiobook.

The only issue I have is the voice actor for the main character, it did not, in my opinion, match. I never imagined Johnny as having such a deep af, manly, "Metal Gear's Solid Snake" type of voice. The voice actor for Ryan Chu however was exactly how I thought he'd sound. So I think it would have been a better choice to have swapped those voice actors around.

Other than that, the audiobook definitely enhanced the story than it was originally.

This is my second read of this book and it is still as good as I remembered!

This time I listened to the GraphicAudio audiobook alongside the ebook and it heightened the experience greatly!

Sanderson's prose in this book is still remarkable, having Hoid narrate this story was a brilliant way for him to improve on his prose and also get into the mind of Hoid and deepen both Sanderson's and our understanding of the mind of Hoid.
I love the little lessons of morality sprinkled throughout the book, and the little nods to the wider Cosmere.

A very fun and beautiful book 😊

This is a review for the GraphicAudio audiobook

I listened to the official audiobook when it came out and it was nice, but I was much more looking forward this version, and it did not disappoint!

Chris Davenport as Hoid will always be the voice of Hoid for me, regardless of future Cosmere adaptations. He has such a whimsical yet comforting voice, that of a wise yet mad wizard who earns a knowing smile from you.

I loved the music and it captured the feel of the book for me. The sound effects and the rest of the cast were as brilliant as always.

For fuck sake stop making me cry!
My body needs the water to survive! 😭

Okay, I was going to give this book 4.75 stars simply because most of the cast were barely present in this book and I deeply missed them.
However!.....however, the new characters, the absolute wonderful feeling I had witnessing Fred as a college professor and realising it would be his perfect job, the realisation that Fred is possibly the same type of vampire as the very first vampire (and that parahuman blood offered to him freely would make their powers permanently part of him and in their most potent form, which is puuuuure speculation on my part but I've seen the foreshadowing from the last book and this book and I'm fully convinced and I'm so excited!), and hearing Quinn's tragic backstory....all made it a criminal act to lower the rating of this book from 5 stars. I couldn't do it. I was completely incapable of doing it. This book is still Fred the Vamp Accountant in its prime, despite how far from the typical route the story went.

I think what makes this series so strong is that it can do literally anything, go any direction it wanted, and as long as Drew Hayes makes it feel like a Fred the Vamp book, it'll be amazing still.
This series is truly magical, I'm in absolute love with it, it's so charming and wholesome and sometimes dark and adult, it feels like an almost impossibly perfect blend of cosy fantasy and action.

I beg of you, dear reader, please give this series a chance, read it 🙏

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

This is my favourite in the series so far, and the one that had me crying too much for how beautifully wholesome and human (ironic af) it is 😭

This is what all of Fred's leadership has been culminating to, everything he's learned, meshed with who Fred is. This was absolutely brilliant!
Fred has shown the parahuman world he is a good man and has a kind heart, he's hard-working, dedicated, and looks after those he cares about, he doesn't have a predeliction for violence, he completely avoids it.
But now he has shown while he does not seek violence and will go the hardest of routes possible to avoid it and causing harm, even to an enemy; if someone hurts his friends and family, if they are attacked, then it's self defence, and you better come at him with all your might, because Fredrick Frankfort Fletcher, the Vampire Accountant, will get his rag-tag team of freaks and geeks and powerful connections to come down on you like the wrath of nature itself.

Never, ever, fuck with a good man.
He has far more to lose than you.

That being said, I absolutely loved the way Fred dealt with threats in this book, he's no longer a coward, sure he's afraid, but he now pushes through that in order to do the right thing, something he's done before, but he's now fully taken on the responsibilities of leadership and no longer hesitates.

Taking from leadership examples throughout the books, and especially Amy's advice, he now understands the three forms of power and he's now utilised it successfully to project a delicate balance of "don't fuck with us" and "we give free hugs", essentially 🤣
If you're a threat, run, if you're a potential friend, welcome to Winslow, Colorado, because this is Fred's town, and all the freaks and weirdos who follow the laws and have no clans or friends to turn to, are welcome. 

Onto book 8! Which is the second last book, and I just want more and more and more 😭

I have to say, for these Graphic Audio audiobooks, they are getting annoying, because all the women in the books are voiced by different voice actors that sound really similar which takes away the uniqueness of characters.

It's like how you've voice actors like Troy Baker or an actor like Ryan Reynolds, when they act or sound the same in every role, you don't see that character anymore, only the actor, and it draws you out of things.