the_pale_woman's reviews
482 reviews

Apparently, I am the only one who didn't like these novellas? It's hard to look at that average rating when this is my leading contender for worst book of the year. 

If you have read the second and third books of this series, then you probably agree that we needed more time with the skyward flight. Especially the third book, as it's obvious that there are important events happening elsewhere. So, I was excited to read these novella. But man, were they boring and tedious. I really had to force myself to power through this read. These types of stories are what give YA a bad rap. They are immature, shallow, and superficial. They had flimsy themes and didn't even bother trying to tie any scenes from the third book even though they were obviously taking place at the same time. It felt lazy and uninspired. The only interesting aspect was the slugs, but that's not because they were written well. It's because it's going to be an important concept going into the last book. One of the biggest issues I had with this writing style was the dialog. It felt cheap like an after-school special. Plus, it was the only vehicle used to progress the story. They just gotta talk it out, share their feelings, and everything will work out. *eyeroll*

Sunreach follows FM and is by far the worst of the three novellas. Just because you're writing in the first person doesn't mean that every sentence has to start with "I." It made the reading experience clunky and hard to look past once I noticed it. I particularly hated FM's awkward romance and her annoying internal monolog. She seemed like a cool character in the first book, but I don't see any connection between that character and the one portrayed here. Also, the other two novellas are named after planets. What's up with this one? 

ReDawn followed Alanik from book two. This one had me questioning the adults and society of the DDF. I don't see how this group of people could have been resisting annihilation for 100 years. Having every adult lack any type of commonsense is frustrating and unrealistic to the point of absurdity. Beyond that I'm not exaggerating when I say that the whole plot of this novella felt absurd. I not going to bother pulling it apart cause it's flimsy enough on its own without my input. 

Evershore follows Jerkface and his rise to power. Why? Does he have to be more powerful than Spensa to deserve her? I will never be able to get behind a war story that puts a teenager in complete control of a societies military and politics. Looking beyond that annoying trope, this novella was slightly better than the first two. I got the impression that Brandon wrote more of this one or had more input in the fight scenes. It just felt more like the rest of the series. Except when you're in the characters' heads. That stank of a much younger person's insecurities. If you interviewed some younger fighter pilots, I would highly doubt you would find so many that fully lack any self-confidence. But maybe that's just a gen Z thing. 

At the end of this collection, there are a few deleted scenes (written by Sanderson) from the first book, Skyward. They give you a look at where the book would have gone if Spensa and Jerkface's romance had been a more prominent part of the plot. Thankfully, it didn't go that way. Enemies to lovers can be a tough trope to get right, and this would probably would have ruined the first book for me. 

I went into writing this review thinking I might try to be nice, but there is no nice way to explain why you hated something. The only reason I'm reading the last book is because I trust Sanderson and love him enough to blame this whole tangent on Janci. Might not be fair, but that's how it is. Because these stories seem important to the overall story, I would hesitate recommending this series to anyone. I would never wish this on another reader. 

Not great. I felt like this doubled down on all the issues I had with the second book and got further away from everything I loved about the first book. I can't help but feel a little frustrated. You can't build up a new crew every book. Well, you can, but you can't expect me to care about these characters.

Just as thought-provoking as the first book. It's hard not to like a book that gets you thinking and speculating. Beyond the thought nuggets I get to chew on, this sequel really helps to complete the story. The first book felt almost unfinished. While parable of the sower is great on its own, I appreciated the partial closure I got from this addition to the tale. 

Unlike the first book, we get a few journal entries from other characters. This adds depth to the setting and nuance to the relationships between the main characters. It also helped remind me that these journal entries could be biased or even unreliable. I particularly enjoyed the addition of the daughter's pov and her commentary on her mother's work and life. I won't spoil the dynamics, but I have to say that it was unexpected and extremely compelling. Most of the events in this book could probably be described as unexpected and compelling. I even felt a few moments of genuine shock. (Marc... iykyk).

I would recommend this to fans of science fiction and speculation fiction. I plan to continue reading more Butler and hope it's just as good as this. 

It's not as good as the first, in my opinion, but it was still a great read. Starsight opens up the universe quite a bit compared to the first book. While I appreciate that I did miss some of the characters and dynamics from the first book. I also thought the flying scenes from the first book were better. In this, it felt more like a group of people playing a video game versus top gun style dog fighting. Still well done, but I preferred the vibe of Skyward. However, that's probably just my crazy aggressive human nature talking. 

I've read a decent amount of YA this year. More than is probably appropriate for my age. I guess you can look at it as one of my guilty pleasures. But I think this genre holds the occasional gem, and Skyward is exactly the kind of gem I've been mining for. I must admit that I'm a huge Cosmere fan, so I'm already predisposed to like Sanderson's writing. However, I think if I had read this without knowing it was Sanderson, I still would have loved it. The tight plot, unique setting, and compelling mysteries had me hooked. This type of book doesn't have the most mature dialog or complex contemplation, but I think that adds a fun quirky vibe that I can appreciate. And that's just it. It was a fun read. It was entertaining, and I'm excited to continue with the series. If you can't tell by now. I highly recommend this read. If you're a Sanderson fan, then it's a no-brainer. If you're not a Sanderson fan, then I pity you. 

If I rated books solely on writing style and execution, I would have given this book a higher rating. It did what it wanted to do, and it was nicely phrased. However, something about this book never clicked with me. It felt slow and restrained. Take out the purple prose, and I bet it would be straight-up boring. 

While I'm not itching to read about the brutality of the Second World War, the lack of violence was notable. Yes, some realities of the time are mentioned, but rarely are you put in a position of witness. You are told more often than you are shown. One character is physically blind and the other is metaphorically blind. They either choose not to see or literally can not. While I can appreciate the concept, in practice, it came off bland, bordering on cliche. 

I'm not surprised that this is getting an adaptation because it feels like it was written to be a TV drama. Particularly the way most of the story is a series of flashbacks. The past and present then align right around the climax of the story. It's a classic storytelling device, but here, it felt clunky and unnatural. Forced. 

I think I'm one of the few people who wasn't emotionally moved by this story. It obviously just wasn't for me. I would be open to reading another book by the author because he did have decent proses. I just wasn't as taken with this as the hype had me thinking I would be. 

Why would you try to humanize a nazi and then once he gets a little redemption you make him walk on a land mine?! I guess it was loosely foreshadowed when he walked out on the beach but I felt like that type of death came out of nowhere. My other big miss story wise is the villain, Mr. Ball Cancer. He has sensitive testies and doesn't mind sitting in silence, patiently waiting. Scary!

I have to be honest. This is not a good graphic novel. I love the Cosmere, and it's rare for me to dislike a graphic novel. Generally, graphic novels are an amazing medium where a story can be told with additional dimensions. The art doesn't have to be perfect either. Art has a way of expressing emotion and ideas without the need to be perfect. Unfortunately, the art here was flat and inconsistent. The characters would look different from one chapter to the next, or the backgrounds wouldn't make any sense from panel to panel. It felt like the artist was used to simpler work, but this story required more attention to detail, vision, and creativity . A project like this really just required more time and money. It was obviously not given those essential ingredients. It's a shame. Although it's not like the plots or characters are anything to get excited about, either. Story wise, I was excited to learn about the origins of Khriss. She's the author of all the Ars Arcanum, after all. I was disappointed. I wanted her story to be so much more than it was. Instead, all I got was a few cliches and an endless list of questions. I found myself utterly frustrated with how deliberately vague it was about details in the world and investiture. And you don't even get to find out how Khriss becomes a world hopper. Or what her magic is. And apparently, we never will? 

I could really rant about every character and scene of this forever, so all I'll add is that this is skip-able. I love the Cosmere, but this is not easily accessible and it's not worth the time. I haven't read the prose version, but that's probably the better option. You can download that for free if you subscribe to the email newsletter on his website. 

I think I'm just sad that it's over. I am undeniably invested in the people of Kingsbridge. Follett continues to beat them down with every book, but they always grow and persevere. The work and legacy of some of its citizens leave lasting landmarks of change that are sprinkled satisfying throughout the story. I wouldn't say that justice felt as sweet this time around, but I still enjoyed the journey for some inexplicable reason. This book isn't for all readers. It can be a little slow and soul crushing. However, it has a heart that I connected with.

I could have done with less time at Waterloo. I find the historical setting interesting until it fully takes over the story. Especially when that plot takes the story away from Kingsbridge and its local issues. The main cast could have used a trim as well. By the end, it felt like we needed to catch up with too many people. Despite these issues, I really enjoyed this read. This series has its ups and downs, but it's quickly become a standout favorite. I would highly recommend it. 

I enjoyed this conclusion, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed. There were a few scenes and dialog that just made me cringe. I think this is a great series overall. This particular entry just wasn't up to par with my expectations. The writing felt like a down grade, and the events felt forced or too convenient. However, I was still satisfied with the read. I still felt the emotions of the bigger moments. I just couldn't help thinking it could be better. While not one of my favorite series, I think it was solid enough. I plan to read more Gwynne and would recommend this series to big series fantasy fans.

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this up, but it wasn't this. This is my first Butler, so I didn't really know much about her books besides the fact that I see her books recommend on the regular. I found this story to be much more philosophical and religious than I anticipated. The writing was intriguing. Good thing, too. Start quoting Bible verses at me too much, and it can really take me out of a story. However, this book manages to have that conversation without losing my interest. It all sounds very cult like, but I found many of the points and subtext fascinating. Especially with the end goal of seeding the stars. How could I not approve of that?

I enjoyed thinking about the concepts and intentions of this book more than the characters and their relationships. The love interests are throw-aways, and many of the side characters seem irrelevant.

The disopian setting is a real fear I share. A world where American society slowly slips back into a culture of slavery. We already live in a world where it's okay to not pay your employees a living wage. You can get someone to work 40 hours a week for you and not have to provide enough for them to even house, cloth, and feed themselves. Let alone enough for options, a life, or a secure future. While it may take a little longer to get to the future depicted in this book, I could definitely see this as a possible future. Except instead of pyro being the drug of choice, it will be opioids. 

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy slightly older speculative/ science fiction that deals in philosophical questions. Basically, do you like a book that uses wild, remote, and plausible possibilities to make you think?