bookmeanderings's reviews
339 reviews

4.5 stars. RTC

“Heroism could get a man killed.”

4.5 stars. With these words we are introduced to Edrin Walker. A Rogue Magus with a penchant for trouble making and a desire for his friends to be safe that knows no bounds or moral codes. Edrin was the sole perspective of this novel and was a great character to follow. The premise of him killing a God, but not remembering any specifics about the event was what hooked me in the first place. Getting to know him, his motives, his passions, his personality, was what continued to keep getting me more and more invested.

The world depicted in The Traitor God is very bleak. Setharis, the city that most of the story takes place in, is ruled by a Council of Mages that are prosperous, but do not have hardly any interest in taking care of the common folk around them. Combine that with the dark, foreboding, and decrepit landscape of the city itself and the protagonist’s oftentimes pessimistic views on life and the dark tone is set for the entirety of the book.

The plot throughout about half of this book revolves mostly around detective work. Edrin Walker is trying to find the killer of his best friend Lynas and he will stop at nothing to do so. This did slow down the pace quite a bit from about the 25% to 60% mark. However, I want to make sure I clarify in saying that does not mean I wasn’t engaged in the story. On the contrary, there was so much to discover about this world, its magic system, the mysteries of the gods, and the lore behind it all that there was always something to interest me or think about even if not too much was happening with the plot.

I really enjoyed all of the magical creatures that Cameron Johnston introduced in this book. The Traitor God has a multitude of daemons, monsters, and spirits that had me almost thinking this was a horror fantasy novel at times. One in particular was absolutely disgusting, frightening, horrible to imagine, and overall done brilliantly. However, I can’t say more without spoilers.

I really enjoyed this book. Edrin Walker was a fascinating and very flawed character in the best of ways. The plot, though slower at times, was still intriguing, interesting, and at the beginning and end, heart pounding fast. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good, grimdark tale. I will definitely be finishing this duology.

“Laughter in battle. That was what Ragnar had taught me, to take joy from the fight.”

Thank you to HarperAudio for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I already had an experience in this series, its characters, and the story through the TV show, so starting The Last Kingdom gave me nostalgia and a sense of coming home. This is one of my favorite periods in history and Bernard Cornwell does a fantastic job of depicting this time where Kings reigned, danes raided, and you had to fight to keep everything you had. Cornwell creates this atmosphere with vivid descriptions of people, battles, landscapes, and cultures and that was one of my favorite parts of the book.

That leads me to talking about the characters. Bernard Cornwell used real accounts from his ancestors to frame this story. I believe because of this he had a clear picture of the type of people that lived back then. It was incredible how real every single person felt. Uhtred, the son of a nobleman, raised by Norsemen, and torn between two worlds. Alfred, brother to the king, an incredibly pious man with both spiritual and physical weaknesses that he hates. Ragnar the older, mentor and father figure to young Uhtred, and fierce Viking warrior. Not only these main characters, but everyone in the story was incredibly well described and had their own believable personalities and motivations.

“Destiny is everything.”

This story is told completely from Uhtred’s perspective as a narrator of his own life and I loved that format. Uhtred is a fascinating protagonist. A man born a Saxon, at first taken, and then raised by Danes, he is truly a man of two worlds and it shows. A huge part of this novel is depicting the struggle Uhtred has to figure out who he is and what he wants. Is he a Dane or a Saxon? Does he want to live and raid with the Danes or go and take back Bebbanburg as the rightful Alderman? Getting the perspective directly from Uhtred as he is looking back on his life was a perfect way to tell this story.

Shield walls, swords, spears, bows and arrows, this story has it all! The pace is fast and there is a lot of action. Cornwell’s descriptions of the gritty reality of the shield wall were especially riveting. Even in the spots that a battle is not going on there was always something interesting to keep the reader’s attention.

I highly recommend this book if you have even the slightest interest in historical fiction. This was a fun, at times even light hearted read with a compelling protagonist, vivid battle scenes, and incredibly realized historical figures and culture.

I want to preface my 3 star rating by saying that I did enjoy Snapshot. The premise was very intriguing and it was an easy world to get into, but I ended up not being able to get invested in the characters too much and that for me personally is a huge part of what makes a story great.

The Snapshot program itself is fascinating. Cops can go into the program, walking through a recreated day in the city they work in to find evidence for present day trials. The feel of the program itself felt like a combination of the Matrix and the surveillance technology of the tv show Person of Interest. It was so cool and definitely scratched my Sci Fi itch. For those of you out there who love the technological advance side of Sci Fi, you will enjoy this part.

The mystery aspect and detective work was interesting, but I think the novella format didn’t do the story the justice that it deserved. I left this novella wanting more because this premise has so much possibility to it, but sadly wasn’t able to deliver what I thought could have been amazing in the only 124 pages that this spans. I would be highly interested in seeing a full length novel set in this world.
Davis and his partner Chaz, the two detectives within the snapshot, fell a little flat for me. I think this is another thing that can be at least partially chalked up to the length of the novel. It was so hard to get attached to characters in the very short length of this book. Unfortunately, right when I was just starting to get more attached as we discover their back story, personalities, and motivations, the book ended.

Ultimately, this novella was definitely worth the short time I put into reading it. It was a fun, at times tense sci fi detective story with a great twist.

“I tried to imagine a world where I remembered being forced to prove I was worth existing. No wonder this society had issues.”

It was so good to get back into this world with these characters. I really enjoyed Skyward and so Starsight was on my list of most anticipated releases for 2019. Although there was one thing in particular that caused me to give this 4 stars instead of 5, I still really enjoyed Starsight.

Let’s talk about the plot. This book felt like it was a stepping stone to the rest of the series. What I mean by that is it was an entry focused a lot on worldbuilding and setting certain situations up for the rest of the series, rather than a full on story that could stand on its own like Skyward. There was just enough plot progression to get me excited for the rest of the series, but not enough for me to love book 2 in and of itself.

Now that we’ve gotten past that let’s discuss everything that I did love about Starsight. Since we just talked about it, let’s jump into world building. The relatively local, small world of Skyward is expanded dramatically in book 2. We get to see and hear about new planets and peoples. So many new alien species! We also learn more about the history of both humanity and some of these other species and can therefore better understand why the universe is in its current state. We get to see the inner workings and political machinations of the government that holds the humans captive on Detritus. Finally, we are introduced to new technology that will dramatically alter the rest of the story. This was Sanderson at his best, delivering a well thought out, immersive world that kept me wanting more.

“That’s what war is,” Cobb told me. “A bunch of sorry, desperate fools on both sides, just trying to stay alive. That’s the part that those stories you love leave out, isn’t it? It’s always more convenient when you can fight a dragon. Something you don’t have to worry you’ll start caring about.”

We get to follow Spensa almost solely throughout this book with a few interludes here and there to break it up. I loved Spensa’s character development in this one. We see her continued growth from the somewhat bitter and immature person that she began as in Skyward into the self sacrificing, mature leader that she needs to be for her people. I also really liked how there was far less bravado on Spensa’s part in this one. Her growth in Starsight always felt organic, never forced. There was a reason for the way she was previously and her growth is continually believable and well thought out.

“I was hoping to discover another AI, so we could complain about organics together. Wouldn’t that have been a fun time?”

Spensa and M-bot’s witty banter was a highlight for me as well. There were so many times where I laughed out loud during their conversations. We also get to see a more serious, introspective side of M-bot that we hadn’t seen much of before. This added an unexpected and welcome depth to the story, as well as M-bot’s character. Also, Doom Slug, enough said.

The action sequences, though fewer than in Skyward, were no less exhilarating and high stakes. Sanderson has mastered the art of space warfare and it shows in Starsight. Incredibly well done.

There were also several themes in Starsight including the effects of stereotypes and prejudice, taking responsibility for the choices you make, and the value of every life that made this book so much more than just an entertaining story.

I really enjoyed Starsight. This was a fast, easy read with so many things to love including the expansive world building, deep character development, thrilling space action, and witty dialogue. I can’t wait for book 3!

Stayed up until almost 3am to finish this... yeah, you could say I liked it. RTC

This was the first book I started for #SciFiMonth and it was a good one! It is incredible how much impact one character can make on whether you really love or hate a book. This was the case for me in All Systems Red.

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

Murderbot was one of those characters that I fell in love with from the start. This snarky, awkward, introverted robot was the main perspective for the entirety of the story and a joy to follow. I have never read a novella where I laughed out loud more than in this one. Murderbot’s dry, sarcastic humor in reference to humans and it’s outlook on life were the best moments of this book. Unfortunately, we were not able to get too much character development amongst the human team that Murderbot is striving to protect, but I do not fault the story or author for this. The author did a great job of focusing on what mattered and making me care deeply about this robot and these humans even in the short time a novella has to tell its story.

“Also, you may have noticed, I don’t care.”

To say Murderbot was the only good thing about All Systems Red would be doing it a huge disservice. There was tension and danger from the very beginning and it doesn’t let up throughout the story. The mystery behind what happened to the other team, along with the threat of the alien planet’s creatures tearing Murderbot’s team apart kept me intrigued and engaged throughout.

I love this book, I love Murderbot, and I cannot wait to continue the series with Artificial Condition.

5 stars. Hands down best book in the series so far. Stakes are raised, characters grow, plot twists, and heartbreak. Brb, starting book 4.



*Spoilers*


P.s. Storm's cubs better still be alive or we will have to talk about a few things John Gwynne.

4.5 stars rounded up. Wow. That was quite a book and an explosive ending. I loved the 3 main characters. They had such good chemistry and each was very much their own individual. I dont really have a favorite between Noon, Tor, and Vintage.

This is a very unique world. I did not expect this world or this story to be what it turned out to be and that is a great thing. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series.