bookmeanderings's reviews
339 reviews

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

This is book 1 of the source material for my favorite movies of all time. One of the only movie series that has ever reduced me to tears. Unfortunately, and maybe in part because of the movies, I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. There were parts that were absolutely amazing, but there were other parts that I just skimmed and was not invested in at all.

Before I get into it I wanted to give a shoutout to the great narration by Rob Inglis. I actually really enjoyed his narration and felt that he brought Middle Earth to life and was a big part of my enjoyment and immersion.

Some of the highlights for me were the Hobbits’ friendships, the elves, Moria, and Tolkien’s inspiring and quotable prose. They were all excellent and when these things were present or happening I felt fully engaged and invested in the story. Moria especially was a highlight for me as I felt that the plot was finally moving forward and there was some excitement and action to be had.

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

Tolkien has a way of writing about friendship, beauty, and grief that I really appreciate. It was amazing what he could make me feel with just a few words and I think for me personally this was Tolkien’s strongest trait. The above quote in just two sentences describes the world of Middle-earth as it is in this book. Tolkien uses these few words to show the hardness and evil of the world, while still managing to leave the reader with a deep sense of hope that all will be made well. This quote in particular really appealed to me as I can relate greatly to it with all of the trouble and craziness that is happening in the real world.

I want to put a caveat here and say that for me, part of the negatives are personal preference. Tolkien’s worldbuilding is immense and the very definition of epic, but for me personally I was often bored with the info dumps that were pretty common. I have never been one for worlds that are explained down to the last detail in general. For me, that actually takes away from my interest as there is hardly any mystery and wonder to be had anymore. It probably didn’t help that I have seen the movies many times as well. I suppose if I compared my book taste to art I would prefer somewhere between impressionism and realism. I only want enough worldbuilding to understand the story and setting and let my imagination shape the rest from there. I cannot deny Tolkien’s influence on fantasy and it would be foolish to try to do so. Elves are my favorite race of all time and although I don’t believe they were created by Tolkien, they were certainly popularized by this series. There are so many tropes and similar settings that I can see in many modern fantasy series that were clearly inspired by Tolkien, and for good reason. He was truly ahead of his time.

Another thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the pacing. I felt that the plot didn’t really get moving until right around the 70% mark of the book. That’s not to say that nothing at all happened up until that point, but I felt like the main story didn’t really gain momentum until we got there.

That being said, the one other con I have for this book is lack of character development. There were so many characters in this first book and we only got to learn a snippet about each one. I expect there will be more character development from the next two books, but to be honest if I didn’t already love the characters from watching the movies I would have found it hard to feel invested in everyone save the Hobbits by the end of this book.

Overall, this was still an enjoyable experience. It almost felt like a reread for me as I kept picturing the scenes in the book as they were depicted in the movie. It was really cool to see how they adapted the movies, what specifcally they cut out, what they kept, how they put certain quotes in different parts of the story, and especially how many direct, verbatim quotes were used in the movies. I will always appreciate and respect what Tolkien did for fantasy and I do plan on finishing the rest of the trilogy this year.

I’m very conflicted about this one. On one hand, I really loved the art style. Dan Mora did an incredible job bringing this story to life. The style actually reminded me of the animation of the cartoon movie Atlantis, but even better and much more dark and gritty. The story itself was also entertaining and one of the main characters, Gran, was pretty awesome.

However, that is where the positives ended for me. The story and most of the protagonists felt very shallow and at times, messy and underdeveloped. Maybe this is in part due to the limitations of it being in comic form, but I don’t think so.

One thing that particularly bothered me was that two of the protagonists who had no knowledge of the supernatural coming to life acclimated themselves to the reality of that way too fast. It wasn’t believable or relatable and took me out of the story quite a few times. The male main character also had abilities such as sword fighting and shooting guns very accurately that just wouldn’t be possible without any previous training.

Another critique I have is the story moved way too fast. This is probably part of why I felt the characters were underdeveloped and didn’t respond to the events of the story in a believable way. There wasn’t any time for character development because the narrative jumped almost straight into action. After that the story just jumped from action scene to action scene with barely a pause in between.

I love the premise, but unfortunately this comic didn’t really work for me and I was pretty disappointed. It is possible that comics may just not be the medium for me as this was my first time reading a comic geared more towards adults. However, if you are looking for something you don’t really have to think about too much and can just enjoy for the action and beautiful art style, you may like this one.

This was fantastic! I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed this. 4.5 stars

This was so much fun! And the artwork! RTC

I really enjoyed this one. RTC

4.75 stars.

“To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal.”

Thank you to ACE books for the advance reading copy of this book. Receiving this arc did not affect my review in any way.

It was so good to be back in the world of Abeth. I had really enjoyed Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor trilogy set in the same world and was so excited to dive back in. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed.

One of my favorite things about The Girl and the Stars is how much more we get to know about the world. This first entry in the Book of the Ice series answers quite a few questions about the magic system, lore, and peoples of Abeth that were left unanswered in the last series. I am so glad I read the Book of the Ancestor series before this as I think it was all that much sweeter to find out about these things through the context of what I already knew. However, it is not necessary to read the previous series before you start this one.

We follow Yaz as the single, first person POV throughout the entire story. Yaz is her own person and I liked how she was very distinct from Nona, the main protagonist from the last series. Yaz has a strong love for her family and in particular this is shown through her sacrifices for her brother Zeen in this book. She is loyal, caring, brutally efficient when necessary, and can wield incredible powers. Yaz is compelling because she is so powerful while at the same time being relatable. You feel for her as she strives to save her family and friends. She fights for what she believes to be right no matter the odds and that made following her all the more enjoyable.

Even though we follow Yaz for the entire story, there are quite a few other characters that are able to shine. I was especially interested in Erris, one of the people Yaz meets within the Ice. There is a mystery about him that intrigues me and I am excited to learn more about him and his abilities. Not gonna lie, there are a lot of names in this one and I didnt take notes. I don’t want to butcher the other character’s names, so rest assured they are there and written brilliantly.

“Now though, with darkness and despair literally reaching out to engulf her, she knew how cruel and fragile a thing hope is, and how sharp the edges of new forged dreams can be once shattered.”

I also want to give a shoutout to Lawrence’s ability to write incredible villains. There are quite a few in this story and I’m not exaggerating, every single one had deep and meaningful motivations. There were no cookie cutter “I’m just evil because I’m evil” villains in this one. I despised them all by the end and that is not something that is easy to do.

The one thing that could have been better and why I decided to give this a 4.75 instead of a perfect 5 is because I felt like some of the characters became unrealistically close in a short amount of time. There is definitely something to be said about shared experiences and traumas bringing people together quickly. However. there were a few people that Yaz deeply cared about in this narrative that I just couldn’t buy into.

I LOVE this magic system! It is so visual and fun to imagine. It is very well explained and I like that even though there is a lot to it, it is pretty easy to understand. I also liked that it is not only useful in battle, but also in surviving the Ice. There are a few separate categories of magic users and all are useful in more ways than one.

“In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.”

There is some dialogue, both internal and external, about the value of each life no matter who they are or what supposed “weaknesses” they have. I really enjoyed this part of the story because it felt completely organic. “The Broken” struggle with this concept of having worth despite their flaws and I found myself easily relating to them because of this. I love a story that can shine a light on injustice, insecurity, and the pain of the world without losing the hope and goodness that binds us all together.

After that ending, I wanted to pick up the next book right away! Be warned, there will be cliffhangers.

I really enjoyed this book. It has heart, characters that are easy to root for, villains that are easy to hate, and a fast paced plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Another good one for the Dresden Files! Full of emotion, magical mayhem, witty banter, inappropriately timed jokes, and horrible puns. Just a fun time all around.

4.5 stars.

“We have now left Reason and Sanity Junction. Next stop, Looneyville.”

I have been loving reading my way through the Dresden Files and Grave Peril was no exception. I now understand why many people say that you need to wait until at least book 3 to see what The Dresden Files can be. The first two books felt almost like prequel standalones, whereas Grave Peril felt like the 1st book in a story that is so much bigger than your typical urban fantasy.

Grave Peril introduces more worldbuilding into the narrative that gives us a peek into a wider world. We learn a lot more about the vampire courts especially and the differences between the White and Red Courts. I really enjoyed that part of the story as I felt that although I really enjoyed the first two, I needed more than just a serial detective series to stay invested. We also get more hints and clues about the White Council and various other factions within this world.

“The married thing. Sometimes I look at it and feel like someone from a Dickens novel, standing outside in the cold and staring in at Christmas dinner. Relationships hadn’t ever really worked for me. I think it’s had something to do with all the demons, ghosts, and human sacrifice.”

Harry Dresden continues to manage a great balance between being hilariously snarky yet complex and layered. I think Harry is a really compelling character and his continued growth through this book was really great to see as he struggles relationships both professional and personal. If you’re looking for what makes the Dresden files so great, you can start with Harry Dresden himself.

I also really enjoyed how Jim Butcher continues to slowly and methodically add to the understanding of the magic system. The magic in this is so vast and there are so many different varieties to it. There are laws that govern each interaction that keeps the human world and the Nevernever from devolving into chaos. The magic in this series really lends itself well to battle and as we learn more about it and the world the stakes continue to rise.

The magical mayhem, inappropriately timed jokes, and witty banter were all still there from the previous books and made this a book that I really enjoyed and devoured in only a few days.

Solid first entry. I really enjoyed Raz, the main character. Not too often you get a main character that's a Lizard humanoid. The action scenes were done really well and the plot was engaging. I actually liked how it was limited in scope and I expect the next few entries will expand the world and plot significantly. There were a few time jumps and that was kind of jarring. And there were a couple scenes that I felt deserved some more explaining. But overall this was a really fun and heartfelt story and I'll be continuing the series.

Possible RTC.

4.5 stars.

“One cannot grow without pain. One cannot improve without it. Suffering drives us to achieve great things.”

Thank you to Hachette Audio for the Listening copy of this book. Receiving this listening copy did not affect my review in any way.

I want to start by just giving a huge shoutout to the narrator Steven Pacey. The dude is just a fantastic narrator. He gives each character a unique voice and brings this gritty, dark world to life in a perfect way. I don’t know that I’ve heard a better suited narrator for a book/series than this narrator for Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series.

Having read the First Law trilogy, we have some old faces popping up here. Nicolo Cosca and Caul Shivers were great call backs to the original trilogy. Cosca in particular was a character I was deeply intrigued by in the original trilogy so I was instantly happy when I learned that he was gonna be a part of this story. I really loved getting to know Cosca more. Also, I was surprised by how much I ended up caring about Shivers. I think this was because he was easy to root for. Shivers is trying to change his ways to become a good man and that is something that is very relatable and I had high hopes for him.

“I have seen hell, it is a great city under siege.”

There were a few other new characters that I found unique enough to mention. Morveer the poisoner reminded me somewhat of Glokta. A man who people tend to shun, but has gotten to the top of his profession by using his cunning and intellect to overcome all the obstacles thrown his way. A nice comedic relief character was Morveer’s apprentice Day. Day is obsessed with food, a brilliant poisoner in her own right, and always said the most funny and out of place things. I loved it whenever she was a part of the story. Monza Murcatto is the main focus of this story. She is out for revenge against the employer that betrayed her and left her for dead. The thing with Monza is that she mostly was a one sided character. She was so focused on revenge that there wasn’t really room for much character development or depth. Thankfully, all of the other character had sufficient depth and interesting personalities that this didn’t bother me very much. The last character I want to mention is Friendly, a homicidal murderer obsessed with counting. I was surprised at how much I liked Friendly. I think in part that is the genius of Joe Abercrombie. You find yourself rooting for these characters that are despicable. This is due in part to everyone in this world being despicable so you try to root for “the best of them”, but also because Abercrombie is able to make the worst of characters feel relatable and compelling. Ultimately, the closest to good that anyone gets in this world is having good intentions.

“The dead can forgive. The dead can be forgiven. The rest of us have better things to do.“

I liked the plot in this one more than I did in the First Law trilogy. In the First Law trilogy there was little plot progression throughout the series and it was much more focused on the amazing characters and their development. Best Served Cold combined excellent characters with a plot that was intriguing and compelling throughout the story. It was also cool as the plot progressed to explore more of the First Law world as Monza’s team trekked all over Styria in search of revenge.

The action, as always with Joe Abercrombie novels, was excellent. The stakes were high for each battle and the exchanges between individuals in combat was really well written. There was a particular scene where the perspective jumps from one person to the next very quickly during the fighting. I really loved the format of this particular fight because it served to emphasize the chaos of everything happening, making the stakes feel high for each character involved and creating uncertainty as to the outcome.

Overall, this ended up being my favorite First Law book yet. The balance between character development, plot progression, action, and world building was done almost to perfection. This book reminded me why I really love this world and has me excited to read the rest of the standalones and the new trilogy!