cavalary's reviews
269 reviews

Another book picked up from the Library. Since the edition I got is British, from 1991, and has fewer pages than later British editions, I assume it doesn't include what was added in the US edition, and probably also in later British editions. But I did see a part about Warlock there at the end and a few footnotes meant for a non-British audience, so I'm not entirely sure of that.
Either way, about the book itself, I could describe it as satire, if not quite a lampoon, using humor to tackle serious issues. And while it's quite an achievement to be funny while tackling Armageddon, I'm not even referring to that, which in itself, along with all the Heaven and Hell and angels and demons business, is just another tool used for the same purpose. Or I guess each of these elements, along with others, can be seen as a tool used to enhance and flesh out each of the others.
In spite of all of that, and of the fact that it's written well and I read it quickly and easily and agreed with plenty of the points made, even making a particular note about the alien encounter, and also about Adam's initial reasons and the way things were developing at that moment... It just didn't grab me. Maybe it was too funny to be taken as seriously as it seemed to want to be and too serious to be taken as humorously as it seemed to want to be, with each of these facets seeping too much into the other, or maybe it was that the style of humor didn't work well enough for me to stand on its own, but in the end it'll remain just another book read, unlikely to leave a lasting impression.

Overall, I guess it is a suitable ending for the series, though at the same time it may also seem a little forced, especially after the series had dragged on at times in the past, and even in this book itself there's chapter five, which reads exactly like something written in order to just keep writing and buy time until more actual inspiration will strike. But even if it was a case of the author realizing, or being told, that she had to end it, at least in terms of the actual outcome she did a decent enough job. Less so in terms of how it came about though, as that was particularly disappointing, but I can't say more without spoilers. And speaking of what I can't say more about without spoilers, it was also unpleasant that one other decision, taken not long before the end, was just presented directly, without anything about how it was actually reached, not even after the fact if the author wanted to surprise the reader at first.
Otherwise, still some nice dragons, still nasty and downright dreadful humans, but sadly many unpleasant dragons as well, for various reasons, albeit through little fault of their own in plenty of cases. And no other relationships between a dragon and their captain or companion to save the day except that between Laurence and Temeraire, though the "chemistry" and understanding between those two remains a beacon of hope when it is given a chance to shine among the filth. And they do get the, if I may say so, sedate ending they appear do deserve... Albeit very briefly...

Read this translated in Romanian and extremely quickly, in about one hour, as part of a World Book Day event I took part in, so I very likely missed a fair number of details. But I can quite certainly say that the book lacks many details as well, being so awfully short, pretty much rushing through the part between the word starting to get out and the real trouble, and ending with a rather confusing scene in which not much is explained. At first I thought the confusion was my fault, as I read those final pages in even more of a rush, while pacing behind other people and after hitting my head hard on a low ceiling, but I looked for the book again the next day, read that part again more carefully, and while I did notice a couple of things I had missed the first time, the overall impression was the same.
Still, the only thing that actually bothered me was how "lucky" the much older man was, even more so since the author is an old man, so I'm not saying it's bad otherwise, but just that there's not much there. It's very light fantasy, has just one location, pretty much covers just one event over a brief period of time, and doesn't linger that much over anything. In terms of atmosphere, it does deliver to a fair extent, and I guess it will appeal more to those looking for something like a modern fairy tale. Did expect to see actual poetry though, seeing as the main character writes, yet that wasn't included even when it was supposedly recited.

This is a strange choice, to add a preview of the first actual book in the series consisting of its first no less than seven chapters, out of 40, after a very short story. It makes it difficult to decide what to comment on, but I'll go with the whole package just as it is and say it doesn't have much going for it. The writing's all right, I guess, but the short story doesn't actually seem to say much, generating more confusion than anything else, and that preview actually needs to be this long to get to the first possibly interesting bit. For six and a half chapters, there's nothing there but some silly teen drama, and I'd actually emphasize the "silly" part, with a trace of past tragedy and just a few hints of something a bit more interesting. And those hints may be too little, too much, or simply pointless either way, since the reader already knows what the main character is, whether from the end of the short story or simply from the description.

Read this in Romanian, picked up from the Library after somewhat accidentally ending up with the sequel at the end of a World Book Day event. However, being included in the otherwise pointless free prequel, I read the first seven chapters in English as well, so I can say that I guess the writing style isn't bad in itself... But the translation is quite poor, with some obvious mistakes I could spot and who knows how many others, after those first chapters, which I had no way to notice, plus a confusing way to print thoughts up to a point. There are things that can be fixed mentally if you pay attention, but others just confuse and at least a few may well lead to understanding something that's the opposite of the original meaning. Plus, metric units are used in some places, but not in most others, so I'm assuming the translator didn't bother to convert and that's how it was in the original as well, but I can't be sure. It's odd either way.
About the book itself, while there are some interesting scenes, I tend to be pretty surprised that plenty of people like this sort of thing. The fact that the main character is annoyingly emotional and that leads to bad decisions and difficulty in making any somewhat reasonable ones may be explained by her programming, so she and the author may be judged less harshly for it than if she'd have actually been human, but fewer excuses can be found for the success rate of, and I'd even say praise for, irrational decisions after a point. More importantly, just about any other character is one-dimensional, the first six and a half chapters consist almost entirely of particularly silly teen drama and the few scattered hints of something more interesting are pointless anyway when the reader already knows what the main character is, there's instant romance and a sudden return to it later, and the entire book seems like the novelization of the tutorial of an action game that doesn't properly start before the end.

Note: The review refers to the edition included in [b:Sword, Steam and Sky: Four Book Fantasy Bundle|36668940|Sword, Steam and Sky Four Book Fantasy Bundle|H. Leighton Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511745791s/36668940.jpg|58452971].

Excellent writing, interesting setting and characters, and quite a relief to see the focus staying on the main characters and only a couple of times briefly switching to the scheming going on elsewhere. The flowery descriptions are written so well that they’re a notable positive aspect, the dialogues are natural, believable, and the same can for the most part also be said about the characters. It’s somewhat unpleasant that, despite being part of the group all along, those guards remain generic, expendable and largely ignored, but the main characters have very different personalities, with facets, layers and pasts that are gradually revealed, as their interactions and bonds become deeper. You will get to cheer and even actually care for most of them… Or at least I did.
The problem, however, is the postapocalyptic setting. Fortunately, at least in this book, there are only glimpses of it, so I could largely ignore it and not let it detract from the rest, but I could have really done without it, perhaps only mentioning something about it a few times in order to explain some details about the setting, and the fact that the action takes place on Earth, not on some fantasy world. That’s a matter of taste, of course, as I simply dislike the genre, but To Journey in the Year of the Tiger would in pretty much any other way be the start of a good fantasy series, yet, however occasionally and briefly, it insists on jarringly tearing the reader away from all its other aspects, from the atmosphere and even the mindset that suits reading such a book, and jumping into something entirely different and, at least from my point of view, out of place. Definitely makes me dread what’s coming.

Note: The review refers to the edition included in [b:Sword, Steam and Sky: Four Book Fantasy Bundle|36668940|Sword, Steam and Sky Four Book Fantasy Bundle|H. Leighton Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511745791s/36668940.jpg|58452971].

Still like the writing style, the author really is a storyteller, though she's also still in bad need of another pair of eyes to look over the text and do something about the many typos and even less easily explainable mistakes left in it, which is something I'm not sure how I forgot to mention in the quick review for [b:the previous book|21563255|To Journey in the Year of the Tiger (Upper Kingdom, #1)|H. Leighton Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395762086s/21563255.jpg|21880511] in the series. But speaking of that previous book, the first half of this one can be described as largely more of the same in the good way, if anything perhaps even with less of the issues found there. The setting is still intriguing and the postapocalyptic aspect can still pretty much be ignored, the characters and their interactions remain interesting, believable, with layers and at least moments of depth, and you'll probably care and cheer for them without even the possible exceptions which may have existed before.
But all of that applies to the first half... The second starts with the postapocalyptic aspect of the setting being explained and becoming impossible to ignore. Still far less problematic than what you'd normally expect when you see the term, but I assume it'll only get worse in the following books and it was quite an issue even in this one, seeing as I dislike the genre. In addition, the story and the characters get pushed too hard, stretched too thin. Actions and events don't quite add up, things are happening too fast without getting explained, or with the provided explanations being far from sufficient or, in some cases, even reasonable. And that's worse, since missing explanations may be provided later, but explanations and motivations that don't add up will continue to not add up. And it's probably not a case of lack of skill or ideas, and it may not even be due to rushing to finish, but possibly due to this infuriating drive to make books shorter and cut out anything deemed unessential, even though in plenty of cases, definitely including this one if this is what happened, those "unessential" elements are actually anything but.

As I was also saying about [b:the previous book|21564013|To Walk in the Way of Lions (Upper Kingdom, #2)|H. Leighton Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395762444s/21564013.jpg|21880498] in the series, definitely like the writing style, despite the fact that there are still some typos, the setting remains intriguing, battle scenes are even more thrilling, and by now the characters have really grown into their personalities, each with layers and facets and depth and their own distinctive voice. I'm still particularly drawn to Fallon's, shall we say, unfiltered but well-meaning awkwardness, but all the main ones are fleshed out, believable, to care and to cheer for, and some secondary ones aren't bad at all either.
Unsure how to react to death being not just less of a nuisance than a common cold for any magically-gifted character, but likely even desirable, considering how things play out. But the much bigger issue I'm torn about has to do with the part of the story involving humans and taking place between the previous book and this one. It's necessary, but I don't want to see any of it, so the fact that it's split and scattered throughout the book, quite rushed, especially at the end, and lacking many otherwise necessary details is both reason for complaint and cause for relief.
Definitely still bothered by the postapocalyptic setting, which, while still not at the level you'd expect, is now much harder to ignore or take as merely a backdrop. How much I enjoyed it in spite of this is a testament to how good the book is otherwise, but I so wish all of that would have been eliminated, replaced with something else. And, while perhaps no longer so much of a necessity, would have strongly preferred this book to be at least half again as long as well, adding many more details about characters, events and little things. As for some more specific, "localized" annoyances, all the infuriating and downright nauseating fussing and cooing over babies comes first to mind, but there's also the untranslated speech in other languages. The point may be to show that characters didn't understand it well either, but I was often left hardly understanding anything at all.

Refreshing willingness, even desire, to challenge and disturb, and nice writing style. Great start, and excellent point about sapiens having always been walking doomsday devices for the other species. Continues just as well, listing mistakes made through time, population growth negating any gains and creating more problems, loss in quality of life for most, the dreadful life of most domesticated animals, imagined order and all its traps and trappings... Good point about sapiens ending up ruled by what they mean to control or even create to aid themselves, and also about imagined order being used to justify power, privilege and the subjugation of others. Baffled by cognitive dissonance being seen as "a vital asset" instead of a flaw though, and the bits about retreating nationalism and safeguarding human rights and the interests of the entire species sure don't match current events, and neither does that supposedly probable green global empire.
Many good points about religions, best perhaps being that if one omnipotent God exists, He must be evil. Also well said that the Scientific Revolution was actually one of ignorance, being triggered by the admission of ignorance. Then, the chapters on imperialism and capitalism and the second half of the Industrial Revolution one provoke shudders and ought to do worse, the benefits being no excuse for the litany of evils. And, while we can't go back, the author's wrong to say we can't do without capitalism. We must find a way past, go forward, immediately.
The following chapter, about social order on all levels, does generally point out good developments, albeit still far from what should be. But then, after a pretty annoying chapter about happiness which rather misses the point and doesn't quite fit, comes the truly terrifying final one, for reasons that are to some extent spelled out in the book's afterword, and which are also those why I won't be reading [b:Homo Deus|30965703|Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1518020641s/30965703.jpg|45087110]: Our power grows exponentially but our wisdom, our capacity to use it right, does not, and any plausible future created by "irresponsible gods who don't know what they want" can be nothing but horrifying.