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Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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2/5 stars. Will not be continuing with the series. I listened to it pretty fast, faster than other books I like more, but my motivation for that was really just to be done with it. “Only this long left” was my thinking on it. I wanted to finish to start another.

For most of the book I didn’t care about a single character. I didn’t like Darrow much. He seemed to always have the answer and could be exactly what the situation called for. I also found the idea of the story intriguing, but did not get invested in it at all. And I think both are symptoms of the writing style.

He told us everything. I think the most common writing advice out there is “show don’t tell.” He did the exact opposite. (You could argue the same about LotR and The Once and Future King, but those feel like a guy sitting around a fire telling you a story he knows, this feels like watching a story through a character’s eyes and he’s telling you how you should interpret everything and feel about it.) Another common piece of advice is “no info dumps, especially in your first chapter.” The first several chapters were one huge info dump. He felt the need to tell us every single thing about the world and characters and their relationships before the story even started. I got so bored in those early chapters. And it didn’t get much better, because, while the story started moving, it still felt kinda like an info-dump because he simply told us everything. Even in the rare time that he did show something, he then immediately stated it. He never left anything implied. Way too many ‘am’s and “beacause’s and ‘is’s. “I feel this” “I am this” “he feels this” “I think this” “I am right”. He force-feeds us everything. He tells you how to feel about the characters, which just makes me feel nothing at all. And he used a lot of similes and statements I think were intended to be literary and smart but just sounded ridiculous to me.

Some specific (non-spoilery) examples:

There was a character at one point that he apparently formed a connection with and she gave him something and he like asked her master to be nice or something in what I think was supposed to be a touching scene. I don’t even remember her name, but I just thought “wait… Have we even heard this girl talk before? But we’re supposed to care about her and their relationship?”

“They are afraid of us.”
“I am angry.”
“I want to punch him.”
All super easy to show through actions and descriptions. And every other sentence was like that.

I didn’t write down the similes I cringed at, but there were a lot.

In one listening session (the last one) I heard the following:
“She smells like smoke and hunger.”
“She tastes like she smells, like smoke and hunger.”
“It smells like earth and siege.”
“He reeks of power like pinks reek of perfume.”
“His pride reeks.” (The same guy who, a few sentences before, reeked of power)
Who can tell me what hunger, siege, power and pride smell like and why he was so obsessed with smells?

Overall, an interesting story, but most (not all) of the characters were bland. And the writing style hurt to listen to. And that made both the characters and story that much more bland. Maybe I’m just too old or something. I won’t tell you not to read it, but I have a long list of books I would recommend first.

Wrath by John Gwynne

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A fitting end to the series.  I am sad to see that it is over.  I will miss the story and the characters (those that are left).  The ending was very satisfying aside from one part that felt a little too deus ex machina for me.  There was a little hinting to it (something Gwynne does well) but it still saved the day a little too suddenly.  On the other hand, this is one of the few stories I have read or watched lately that I did not feel like the climax was rushed and too easy.  Gwynne did a great job upping the stakes and suspense and drawing out the scenes that needed drawing out.  He didn’t rush to the conclusion.  The story moves around in surprising but fitting ways.  He brought all the characters together for a natural and epic finale. 
He stayed consistent in his writing, which means I have the same general complaints as the previous books.  But at this point I have accepted it as just part of the story and it doesn’t really bother me anymore.
I highly recommend this series to fans of fantasy.  It has everything you could want, giants, magic, angels, demons, swordplay, betrayal, deception, massive and epic battles.  Exactly what you look for in a fantasy.  This series has given me plenty of ideas for my own writing and provided me with many hours of entertainment to boot.  Thank you Mr. Gwynne, these books are going on my VIB (very important book) shelf.

The Loyal Nine by Bobby Akart

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Not impressed.  By the end of the prologue (which in itself was a poor choice) I knew it wasn’t going to be great,but I made myself keep reading, hoping I would be surprised.  I wasn’t.  The writing was very unimpressive.  On one page he used the word “soldier” ten times.  One right after the other.  It did not flow well.  It used a lot of direct thoughts that were out of place and redundant.  It restated a lot.  I really don’t need to know what kind of car every character drives and what coffee they drink and the exact square footage of their apartments.  It brought in so much unnecessary information in the most awkward way.  He would have someone say something that sounds completely unnatural and was clearly something understood by all the present characters, so it was done simply to inform the reader.  So many words and scenes that could have easily been cut out and only made the book better.  And the dialogue was structured wrong sometimes.  That annoys me.  That should be one of the first things a writer figures out before they start writing.  Make I’m being unfair.  Maybe it was typos.  Maybe.  And one more thing that annoyed me to no end in the beginning was his unwillingness to name the characters.  I believe that, unless you have a really good reason (he did not),the POV character should be named right away.  He went pages without naming some characters.  That led to an over reliance on “he” and ridiculous nicknames.  

Besides the writing being bad, the story wasn’t even good.  It was way too political.  To the point where it literally went to political speeches many times throughout.  I realize that is kinda the point of the book, but it was just exhausting.  It maybe is meant to teach people, but I think that most people would just get annoyed and stop reading.  I almost did.  But maybe I just am not the right audience.  I prefer to read fiction for the story, not to be preached at.  Sue me.   If you want a political message in a book, try and be at least somewhat discreet.  Don’t make one of your characters a professor who literally gives political lectures in your book.  In doing that, Bobby tried too hard to show how smart he is.  Not just on political topics, but on locations and objects.  Too much irrelevant detail about things that have no bearing on the story.  And the story itself was pretty boring.  Maybe if the entire series was cut down to a reasonable length and all the excess was chopped, it would be good, but the way it is, I was bored.  I really was.

So no, this was not a good book.  I will not be reading the rest of the series.  I probably should have seen that coming.  Any series that has 6 books come out in little over a year cannot be well written.  Tell me if I’m wrong, but that raises a red flag for me.  But hey, if you want a political lecture with a storyline and don’t mind bad writing, this is the book for you.  Not the book for me.

Tarkin by James Luceno

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​I enjoyed this one largely because it gave more information about the Star Wars universe and characters.  At times, I felt the characters didn’t quite match their movie conterparts, but, for the most part, I think it was well done.  The story wasn’t anything special, but it was enjoyable, which basically describes most of Star Wars, aside from the obvious shockers.  The world is what is more enjoyable to me, the overall story and the detailed races and planets, not the individual, isolated stories.  I don’t have a lot to say on the writing; it was good.  Mostly easy to understand, but with some flourish with the language, sometimes maybe unnecessarily so.  Not exactly how I would write it, but that is not a critique, it is a fact for everything I didn’t write.  Mostly the writing just disappeared into the story, which is a sign that it is good.  Overall, I think the book was done well and is an essential book for people wanting to understand the new canon.

Eon by Greg Bear

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I’m not really a hard sci-fi guy.  I’m just not smart enough for all the science.  Reading this book made me feel a little bit dumb and was definitely a brain workout.  I also prefer to read books for their story and hard sci-fi has a tendency to pause the story to explain the science, I feel like.  Some people with more scientifically inclined brains enjoy it I am sure, but I am not a fan.  It probably didn’t help either that I kept getting distracted while reading it, especially in the beginning, so there were a number of things that probably would have made more sense had I not been distracted.  Although, despite all the science explanation, I still have questions, mainly how the Stone’s presence affects gravity on Earth if at all.
In terms of the actual writing, I am not a huge fan.  I don’t really like the point of view.  I like very limited third person and first person.  This was less limited.  It felt like it was following one person, but then it would be focused on another person only to revert back.  Again, it is a personal preference, but I did not really enjoy it.  The action felt removed at times, like we were disengaged and being told through an outside observer rather than being made a part of the story, they happen so matter-of-fact-ly.  Again, personal preference and the story wasn’t focused on the action, so it was understandable.  Some of the reactions and interactions didn’t feel real, however.  There were a few times I thought “no person ever would say that or be that cool.”  Maybe I just haven’t been around the right kind of people, but I was doubting.
The story was good.  It was a step away from my usual conflict and war-based stories, but It was pretty good.  There didn’t really seem to be a whole lot of buildup throughout, which felt a little off, but, again, it might just be that I kept getting distracted, so I wasn’t fully engaged in the story.  The beginning of the book and the end are very different.  So much happens throughout.  That is a little overwhelming and makes some of the major events feel less important, they are just kind of drowned out.  
Overall, not really my kind of book, but it was good.  If you enjoy hard sci-fi, then I’d say read it.  If you don’t like hard sci-fi, it is your choice.

Ruin by John Gwynne

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I had a long enough break between the last book and this one to reengage fully with the story and I enjoyed it all the way through this book.  It was pretty unrealistic at times, aside from the obvious fantasy elements.  The biggest example of this was the remarkable timing.  There were many times when certain events happened at just the right time, such as two groups of people meeting up just in time to join a battle that was all but lost.  But those were forgivable, as the story as a whole was still enjoyable.  I very much admire Gwynne’s ability to have all these different storylines and characters moving alongside each other and have them come affect each other and come together.  With this book, a lot of the stories converged and the overall story built significantly.  Very exciting and kept me up three hours too late last night so I could finish.
The actual writing is much the same as the first two books.  Still different than I am used to, but it is usually clear.  He does still have a habit of restating things.  Sometimes I understand why he does, it is from a different character’s POV, but it often offers no new information and I’m left thinking “we already know this.”  His use of thoughts still bugs me.  I am not a fan of direct thoughts in most instances anyway, but his use sometimes has no apparent use.  It often feels like the thoughts were added after the fact, restating something word for word.  And there is so much of it some places.  A few pages are half italicized and it feels off and distracts from the story.
Overall, I very much liked the book.  I do have some issues with how it is written, but they do little to detract from my enjoyment.  I still recommend the series and look forward to the next book. 

Valor by John Gwynne

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Pretty good.  Maybe not as good as the first one, but good.  It felt a bit long.  I liked the slow buildup in the first one, but by the end of this one I was getting a little tired of the story.  Going to continue reading them, but I definitely have to take a break before the next one.  There were more exciting events in this one I feel like, but they seemed a little overshadowed and rushed and the story is just going a little long maybe.  It is still enjoyable and I’m sure it won’t bother some people, but I was getting exhausted with it.  And I must say, the number of limbs that get severed and sparks that fly from swords in these books is incredible.  They really should get more calcium and I wonder if they decided flint was a good material for making swords with.

The writing itself is the same as the first one.  Not how I like to write and sometimes confusing to read, but not too bad.  There are times when it isn’t clear who is doing the action or talking and he sometimes seems to write exactly how he would think or say it, but it comes off as sounding a little weird and sometimes confusing.  There are some times when he repeats things and I can’t get past the fact that he just said it, it pulls me out of the story.  Then I found a decent amount of typos.  Mostly missing quotation marks, but a couple of other punctuation and spelling errors.  They could have benefitted from another careful look.

So I just listed everything bad with it.  I still enjoyed it and will continue with the series and if you enjoy fantasy epics, this series is great.  Everything good I said in my review for Malice still applies, I just started getting a little bored.  But I have a fairly short attention span, especially when it comes to stories, so you may not run into that problem.  Don’t let me scare you from these books.  If the size of them doesn’t, then my review shouldn’t.

 

Malice by John Gwynne

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One of my favorite books.  The definition of fantasy.  A great epic with magic and creatures and battles and deception.  The story is gripping right to the end, although the main conflict doesn’t start until near the end.  I have always been one for jumping straight into the conflict, but this one worked well doing it differently.  There are plenty of smaller conflicts to keep you occupied while the main one builds slowly, looming in the background and over the characters’ heads.  And the characters, they are amazing.  Each is unique and well-rounded and grows throughout, their development is wonderful.  The world is complex and deep, obviously having been well thought out ahead of time.

The writing itself wasn’t perfect.  He has a tendency to run on with his sentences and that, combined with his way of putting things led to some confusion.  He also loves his italics.  I’ve said before that I don’t really like using italics, particularly for emphasis, and he did that.  A lot.  Sometimes it felt like he was trying to emphasize every other word.  It was too much.  But overall, the writing melted away as the story gripped me, as it should.

This book gave me a lot to think about for my own writing and worldbuilding.  I actually started planning another story, or, rather, changed and expanded on one I had, thanks to this.  The actual plot of the story has nothing to do with Malice, but I am very inspired by how the plot unfolded and how we get to observe it.

This is a very short review compared to what it should be, but I stayed up way too late to finish the book.  I made notes throughout my reading and consolidated the main points here, but there is more I could say if I really wanted to get into it, but the main point is that I loved the slow building, yet gripping story.  I just ordered the next two books in the series and wait eagerly for them to show up on my doorstep.  I definitely recommend this book to any and all fantasy lovers.

Survival by Devon C Ford

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Not my favorite. 2/5. Maybe 3/5. To start, the prologue. It should not have been titled “prologue.” It was chapter 1. There was absolutely no reason for it to be called a prologue. Same with the epilogue. They were part of the story. This is a superficial thing to complain about as it really doesn’t really affect the book, but it bugs me.

Next, the writing. It clearly didn’t have a professional editor go over it. Numerous typos and mistakes that should have been caught. It felt almost like I was reading a first draft. And that’s just the beginning. He split up a single character’s dialogue over multiple paragraphs when he really shouldn’t have, which confused me during every conversation as I tried to figure out who was talking. He was also really bad about not using names when he should have. He’d use ‘he’ throughout a scene, but have multiple men and it often wasn’t clear which one he was referring to.

The tone felt a bit confused at times as well. Sometimes it felt very lighthearted, which didn’t match what was happening, which can sometimes work, but it didn’t this time. Sometimes the narration was dark, but the dialogue was joking, and they didn’t blend well. The dialogue also often felt forced and out of place.

His use of POV characters was sloppy as well. He followed a single character most of the time, but sometimes would be following him, then suddenly we’re witnessing a conversation that he had left. Then we’re following another character with no clear indication that he made a switch, which would leave me confused for a moment. There were a couple of times that he switched POV characters completely and obviously, but the switch served no purpose and the story wouldn’t have changed if he had left out that chapter and let that character disappear again without putting him so much into the spotlight first.

The story itself wasn’t too bad. A bit slow. It had very few exciting or even interesting moments. Most of the book was setting up a camp after the apocalypse, which itself wasn’t even exciting. Most of it was common sense and stuff we’ve seen happen a hundred times at the beginnings of stories. And that was the whole book. It did get exciting at the end. The very end. There was no resolution. I understand that it is the start of a series, but there should still be resolution. Every book in the series should complete the story arc, not end at the top just for the sake of a cliffhanger. There has to be resolution after the climax. This story ended practically in the middle of the climax.

It wasn’t all bad though. I did like the characters by the end (though at first I couldn’t care less about them), and each character was unique. The story did have some good points. There was the occasional idea that was unique from other post-apocalyptic stories and it was interesting seeing so much detail going into the setup of the new society, even if it did get boring.

So yeah, not real great, but not horrible. I complain more than I praise because I think more about what’s wrong than what’s right while I read. That’s mainly because I’m focusing so much on figuring out what not to do in my writing and it’s easier to point out what’s wrong. Someone who isn’t a writer may not find issue with as much as I have. But I wasn’t a huge fan. I may read the rest of the series, but probably not. I have a new stack of freshly obtained books that I’m more interested in to read.

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

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I definitely enjoyed this one.  Early on I had some issues with how it was written, but that disappeared as I kept reading.  I felt that the writing was geared more toward a young audience (despite the story feeling geared toward a slightly older audience), that it was dumbed down.  It stated the obvious.  It used italics and such in the way I did when I first started out writing, but have come to dislike.  But as I kept reading, I didn’t really notice it as much.  It could be that there as an actual change in the writing as the characters aged, or I could have gotten so invested in the story that I stopped noticing.  The latter is certainly believable.

The story was not overly exciting for most of it, but it definitely kept me enthralled.  I very much enjoy reading Star Wars stories and seeing the events of the movies from different angles.  It was nice to see different perspectives and the events between and beyond what we see in the movies.  I am still disappointed with the discarding of the EU, but I am also excited to keep up with these new stories.  The characters and plot were fairly predictable (partially because it ran parallel to the movies until the end), but not so much that it wasn’t interesting. 

Between that interest and my excess of downtime, this was about the fastest I have read a book in a long time.  Definitely recommended for all Star Wars fans.