bookmeanderings's reviews
339 reviews

4.5 stars.

For what I believe this book was purposed to be, a fun, exciting adventure with interesting characters and plot, it was perfect.

Mistborn Era 2 is not in any way similar to Mistborn Era 1. In fact, I'd say in many ways they are opposites. Where Era 1 had a dark and serious tone, Era 2 had a fun and almost parody(at times, especially with Wayne) feel to it. Where Era 1 focused a ton on character development, Era 2 had some, but was more focused on telling a fun story. Where Era 1 felt deep and emotional throughout all 3 books, there were only a few times where Era 2 went into that kind of depth.

All that being said, I really enjoyed Era 2 and "The Bands of Mourning" is definitely the best book in the series. In this book we see the world expand a ton, characters grow in ways that I didnt see coming(looking at you Steris), and a plot that was bigger than I had originally thought through the first 2 books. The writing was fantastic throughout this book.

I am excited to see where Sanderson takes Wax, Wayne, and the gang in "The Lost Metal" in 2020.

Though this story was a bit slow at times I really enjoyed the character development, the political maneuvering, and all of the sisters and novices. The story and magic system was so unique as well.

And WHOA. What an ending. Villains defeated and an epilogue that has me wanting to pick up the next book RIGHT now.

"Power does not equal worth", Arion said.

This is my non-spoiler review for Age of Myth. I think I've finally found my niche in fantasy that I always enjoy. Light Epic Fantasy. I dont mean light as in light hearted because i like a story that deal with truly weighty matters that make you think. I mean light as in the worldbuilding is done to a healthy degree and not over the top(looking at you Stormlight Archive). Dont get me wrong I still like Stormlight, but it honestly feels like work to read sometimes. I degress.

Before I begin, I just want to say that to appreciate this book fully you should definitely read the Riyria Revelations trilogy by the same author before diving into Legends of the First Empire. Chronologically I know this comes first, but I felt I appreciated this book so much more because of what I already know through Riyria. And the author agrees with me on this point so you know I'm right. 😁

The first thing I want to talk about is the pacing of this book. It was close to perfect. There was never a time that I felt bored, but there was also never a time where I felt the plot was being rushed. Michael Sullivan has stated that he writes the whole series out before he even publishes the first book and I think that really helped in this area.

The characters. I really enjoyed both Suri's and Persephone's characters from the get go. The same thing with Malcolm. Raithe took some getting used to, possibly because I recently finished Wrath and I kept picturing "Rafe" from those books. But he grew on me and now I really like all of the characters.

One of the biggest things I enjoyed about this book is really digging into the Elven(Fhrey) culture. We get a POV from Arion, a powerful Fhrey that is pretty high up in Fhrey society and her parts were very enjoyable in getting to know her and by extension the Fhrey culture and peoples around her.

*Mild Spoiler possibility ahead*

One of my biggest questions from this book is who is Trilos and what does he want. That plot point intrigued me the most throughout this tale.

This was the perfect starting book to a 6 book series. It laid the groundwork and built enough to keep me very interested and excited to continue to book 2, Age of Swords.

I want to premise my review by saying I think the writing was well done for this book. Most of what I don't like about this book is personal preference and should not be taken as a reflection of the quality. Let's jump right into it then.

I wanted to love this book. The whole premise is something I really tend to like. However, although the writing was actually quite good, I did not like most of the story and most of the characters. Let me explain.

*MAJOR SPOILER WARNING*

To start on a positive note, the one character I really did love was Kitay. His humor, curiosity, and support of Rin was important for her and gave me relief in that not everyone in this book ended up being a depressingly sad and angry person. After the massacre he retained his humanity, even though it would have been easy to give in to the baser side of himself. He didn't go along with the genocidal act of Rin exterminating an entire people, he stood his ground in the midst of terrible injustice on both sides of the war. Bravo Kitay.

I also really enjoyed the part of the book before the actual war starts. Rin clawing her way into Sinegard and then overcoming all the obstacles once she got there was great storytelling. It was inspiring to see someone outside of the normal top of the Social ladder become the best of the best at the best school. I wish this part would have been longer.

Now on to the not so good.

I think my biggest problem with this book is the ending. In fact, if there was a different ending I am convinced I would really like this book.

Rin is torn between genocide of an entire race (sans the army) and finding another way to save her people. She goes through with the genocide with the aid of the Phoenix. Not only that, but Qara and Chaghan go and massacre Nikaran citizens to "win" the war. These acts are only explained as being "necessary" to win the war. That's all we get. There is no consideration of other options. There is not even much consideration of trying to find another solution. The logic is basically, Altan is the man, a Speerly, and he is the strongest of us so he must be right. This was frustrating for me in that how am I supposed to root for main characters who would commit these atrocious acts so easily, so carelessly? The only other reason for doing this is revenge which in my opinion is a hollow, worthless, and wholly selfish reason. Although, I can understand where they are coming from, I cannot for the life of me root for characters who are so inhuman as to condone genocide.

One other frustration I had with this book is the lack of detail for the plot. I felt that I never knew enough. The magic system, as well as the history could have been much better explained and would have helped the story greatly.

I really wanted to love this book, but I can't.

I enjoyed this short story. It could have definitely been a little longer and had some more action/details. I loved the "living library" and I would have loved to learn more about it.

3.5 stars.
I think this book suffered a bit from "middle book syndrome." The pacing in this book was quite slow and I generally prefer a faster pace. The plot did not move forward very much, but there was a lot of character development that was necessary to the overall story. There were also some things that came close to shattering my suspension of disbelief like the fact that the Rhunes had just invented the wheel, the bow, and pockets in this book.

One of my favorite character arcs so far has been Suri's. She is 100% my favorite character so far and she grew by leaps and bounds in this book. RIP Minna.

Mawyundule's POV was interesting at times as well. I was glad we still got a POV from someone in Elven society.

Who the heck is Trilos and what does he want?!?!

Overall a good read that leads well into Age of War.

4.5 stars. Absolutely incredible. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. So many heartbreaking moments. Michael J Sullivan, thank you for ripping my heart out quite a few times during this book. What an action packed, emotional third book. About to pre-order Age of Legend.

MAJOR SPOILERS coming:

So now that I got my emotions out of the way I wanna go a little more in depth. I thought this was very well written and very fast paced. Age of War combined the best aspects of both Age of Myth(pace and plot) and Age of Swords(character development) into a VERY solid 3rd entry in the Legends of the First Empire series.

Mr. Sullivan does not miss a beat from Age of Swords. From the moment the book begins we as the reader know the stakes are high and the tension continues to build until the final climactic battle.

Mr. Sullivan is not afraid to kill off main characters either. Raithe, the very first person we meet in this series, sacrifices his life to save everyone at Alon Rhist. Arion, mentor to Suri and first Fhrey to truly join the human's side(cause Nyphron is a self serving weasel so I don't count him), is killed in an explosion as she pushes Suri away to save her life. I honestly dont know who is going to survive to the end of this war. None of our main characters feel safe and I love when authors do that.

I actually enjoyed the romances in this one. Especially Moya and Techkin and their snarky relationship. Moya has shown a lot of growth over three books and I look forward to more CD for her.

That leads me to my favorite character Suri. Why does Michael Sullivan hate Suri? I dont know, but I can tell you one thing. She is one of the best examples of bravery and self sacrifice that I have ever seen in a book. She is incredibly selfless. I hope she is able to get back to more of her whimsical self in the coming books. Her character arc has been so cool to watch unfold and I look forward to the rest of it. Shout out to Gifford and Roan for having very interesting and deep character arcs as well. I'm glad Roan is finally growing and leaving Iver behind.

The one tiny issue I had is with the ending. The dragon, don't feel like looking up the actual word for it, felt kind of convenient and repetitive since that is how they saved the day in Age of Swords. But at the same time it made sense that they would do that.

Overall, a very solid entry in Legends of the First Empire and I cant wait for Age of Legend to come out soon!

This was a decent book. It had a lot of action. Brent Weeks is great at writing actions scenes and the last 100 pages were especially intense and high stakes.

There were a few issues though. I am not huge on worldbuilding. As in, all I need for a world is the minimum info plus some interesting tidbits about the culture, history, etc. However, The Way of Shadows had so little worldbuilding that I found myself wanting a lot more. The history and "religion" are very vague and present day circumstances are hard to understand because of that. The side story with Dorian, Feir, and Solon is especially suffering because of this.

I also felt like the characters kind of came off flat at times. There wasn't much character development and when there was it felt forced. Although the characters were all cool and BA, there didnt seem to be much besides that. I couldn't really connect or care too much about the characters. I also think it didnt help that there were a few significant time jumps that took me out of the story.

All in all a decent story and a great premise, but it could have been executed much better. Not sure if I will continue the series or not.

A little over 60% and I am officially DNF-ing this one. When you start to dread picking up(listening to for me) a book it's time to give it up. I really really wanted to like this one. I love Star Wars and I've liked all of the other Star Wars:The Old Republic books I've read. I do not give 1 stars lightly. However, the characters felt very flat, the book was more about the Sith Lord Scourge than Revan, and the action/plot was underwhelming and just plain boring at times. I've read other books by Drew Karpyshyn like I said before and I've enjoyed them. This is just not his best work.

3.5 stars. It was cool to get the backstory of how the Sons of Ares were formed. I'd have liked to get more details behind it and I think it might have been better in a novella format. Overall though a good addition to the Red Rising universe.