zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

 Perhaps it's nostalgia from growing up reading James Harriot, but the books are still a delight to read and listen to. If you love animals or people you'll find something to make you smile and laugh about in this memoir. 

So full disclosure I have already watched most of the TV show, so I knew what was going to happen. However, I think that worked in my favor (I’m also not very sensitive about spoilers).

What worked for me: I loved all the worldbuilding things about Leviathan Wakes. I think sci-fi usually isn’t that appealing to me unless it has a big, expansive world with lots going on. I’ll be continuing on if for no other reason than that I love the settings/environments. I also liked the characters for the most part. I really liked Miller. I liked the discussions of humanity, technology, the mind, etc.

What didn’t really work for me: a lot of the dialogue came off kinda clunky. I think it was intentional for some characters, certain characters have a more blunt way of talking without many extra words. But more characters were like this than felt natural. I also felt that the pacing was a bit uneven. Or maybe it was just me enjoying some parts more than others. Having watched the show helped keep me a bit more engaged cause I knew where we were going. But honestly around 50% I was dragging and by 75% I was ready to be done.

I enjoyed Leviathan Wakes, and I’ll continue on and hope that the books improve.

I listened to this on audio, narrated by Jefferson Mays, who I thought did a great job. 

 Summary: K.J Parker is a new Terry Pratchett for me. Felix lost his people but finds new people as he conquers the world and orchestrates a new religion. Don't come for the plot, come for the asides about camels.

You don't need to have read the other Siege books to enjoy this one. I hadn't and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I love the sardonic, dry humor, asides, and quirkiness of this book and the characters. It's the type of book that's hard to recommend because I think a lot of people might get angry at this book and it seems boring. But here's my advice, it's not about the plot - for the first 30% there's no clear idea what the plot is and even after that, it's a rather meandering, loose plot - or character development. That's not to say the plot or characters are bad, but that's not the point of the book. This book is about other things, and it's about the experience of reading an unreliable narrator who is sharp and cunning and will mislead you and aggravate you but has a lot to tell you in a roundabout way. I really enjoyed this book and want to read some more KJ Parker as soon as possible.

My one con here was that I thought the ending was going to have a little more payoff than it did, but I not convinced that that wasn't intentional.

Thanks to Orbit and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.