cavalary's reviews
269 reviews

It's unusual for me to enjoy short stories, but this time I did. That's in part thanks to the writing, which does again rise to the level I have gotten to expect from the author, with all the care obviously put into it, including the particularly good use of structure and patterns. There were also far fewer typos this time around, several in Kerris' story but only a few in all the others put together. But the main reason is that these aren't scattered stories, but the backstories of characters I already know and care for, meaningful and connected with ties that are stronger than the forces of the different times and places trying to separate them. Considering the complaints I had about those, I'd call Swallowtail and Sword better than some of the "proper" books in the series.
Taking the stories separately, the first was Jeffrey's and the clear postapocalyptic setting overshadowed the positive aspects, while the legend at the end seemed quite out of place in a different way. But other than that, I even sort of enjoyed Ling's story, despite obviously being bothered by the court intrigue and, as I call it, human filth portrayed in it. Maybe I wasn't particularly impressed by any aspect of the one about Kirin and his horse, but I can't find faults in it either, and I also can't exactly find faults in Fallon's story, the setting, this time an institution of formal education, again likely being what bothered me to some extent, but in that case I was once again drawn to her unfiltered but well-meaning awkwardness, and even to the way her insecurity is depicted. Sireth's and Sherah's struck me as truly, simply, good stories; no complaints. And I'd have likely considered Kerris' as the best if not for the author insisting on ruining it with that last part. As it is, I'll have to say that Ursa and Kirin's is likely the best. But, with the possible exception of the first and the last, they're all good even separately, and even better when taken as a whole.

This just isn't done, taking a fantasy world forward, skipping centuries and having its level of development actually change drastically, yet Sanderson did it anyway. I still much prefer more typical fantasy settings, and an Industrial Revolution keeps making me think of the environmental damage caused, but must admit that a fantasy world having its Industrial Revolution can be an interesting place. Or at least, at this point, this one is, even if there isn't that much worldbuilding in this book, being too short to allow for it and very focused on the action. But the newspaper inserts help with that to some extent, or at least add to the flavor, and otherwise it does just what it aims to do, being something of a fantasy Western, a novel that's lighter in various ways but thrilling, offering readers a sort of intermission in some ways but gripping them and pulling them towards what comes next in others.
Perhaps as the main bridge over the centuries that were skipped, the magic system is nevertheless presented in great detail, albeit with a clear focus on its use in battles and on the specific abilities of the main characters. And what characters they are, Wax obviously being the most developed and most interesting but Marasi standing out as well and Wayne being another piece that fits in just right to make for a great trio. He doesn't work so well on his own though, seeming too stereotypical, and that constant banter at times becoming too repetitive and just too much. But that banter does remain funny, while on the other hand, some discussions and inner monologues touch on much deeper aspects, and the antagonist also makes excellent points, definitely worth supporting and acting on, in this world as well as in our own.
Between the thrilling battles, the great characters, the deeper aspects touched upon and the interesting world, I truly was excited while reading this, mostly noticing the reasons for complaint when I stopped to think about it. Could have done without that sort of intervention in the final battle though...

Elantris starts slowly, major developments relatively few and far between in its almost exclusively political first part. That led to me focusing on that aspect as well and noting when the author was unable to make characters as wise as quite clearly intended, even if overall that’s another limitation that he works around better than most, or certain promoted concepts that I disagreed with, such as the low-level, everyday greed and selfishness that can be taken as the theoretical basis of capitalism or people assumed to find purpose in their jobs and needing to focus on them to be content and withstand pain and problems.
After the first part, however, much of that is ever more easily forgotten. The pacing likely also plays quite a part, the book growing and speeding up as it goes along, the structure itself reflecting that as well, with the second part having shorter chapters and the third having those shorter chapters split in sections that go from pages to paragraphs to even mere lines, switching points of view and portraying ever more significant events, ever more actual action, at an ever faster pace. Yet that’s not only not at the expense of depth, but quite the contrary, the systems used, the important characters and, to some extent, the world becoming more fleshed out, more of their complexity being revealed, even though the fact that it’s a single book does place obvious limitations on this.
While the path to a sequel is wide open and one has been announced, albeit as a lesser priority, Elantris stands well enough on its own, containing a complete story. And the additional material included in the edition I read, the author’s comments, the deleted scenes and even the foreword, all of that does indeed add to its value.

It's unusual for me to even be able to stand a person, and next to impossible to actually like one, so finding characters infuriating, human or human-like ones in particular, tends to be the norm. Therefore, coming from me, it’s high praise to find it hard to name a character I disliked, and even more so to have actually been quite fond of most, seeing them as worth supporting and cheering for and simply wanting to know more about them, for them to be featured more prominently. There was probably Treledees, and the God King's priests in general, but nowhere near the level one would expect, and of course there are things to be said about that as well. And yes, Vivenna was frustrating much of the time, but I could understand her as well, see where she was coming from and how she was developing. The others, whether intended as heroes or villains, if one could even tell which was which, gave me few reasons for complaint, and the exchanges between Lightsong and Blushweaver were quite delicious.
Otherwise, Sanderson does what he does best, creating and explaining detailed magic systems that are much closer to a form of science than one would generally expect. In addition, despite being a single book and therefore needing to focus on what is directly relevant, Warbreaker doesn't do a bad job of explaining the important elements of the world it takes place in, and even finds space for some philosophy and wisdom. And it definitely keeps you on your toes, at first with some smaller twists and turns, but eventually turning everything around a few different times, in ways that are likely to baffle at first but which definitely make sense in hindsight.
There are some things about the ending that seem somewhat forced though, yet that and the fact that it is, at least at the moment, a single book and therefore can't offer nearly as many details as the world and the systems, and also the characters, would deserve are pretty much the only complaints I have.

This is a masterpiece of worldbuilding, proving Sanderson a grandmaster. Elements can be seen in his other works, possibly tried, experimented with, but here they all come together to create a complete world, different from what the reader would be familiar with. Philosophy, religion, ethics and, perhaps most of all, prejudice are also tackled. That requires many explanations, and they are provided, piece by piece, layer by layer, like in Shallan's drawings, each passing adding more detail, showing rather than telling. The explanations follow the action, are part of it, and even the occasional piece that would elsewhere be seen as an information dump avoids that fate here. Even the slow pace, required for such an endeavor, actually serves to emphasize the thrilling moments even more, not that I saw any risk of getting bored either way. If anything, I just wanted to spend more time reading each day, and now I'm itching to move on to [b:Words of Radiance|22313627|Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407090431l/22313627._SY75_.jpg|16482835].
Not that The Way of Kings is perfect, of course. While Sanderson makes this work surprisingly well and the characters themselves are, usually, worth supporting and cheering for, there are too few of them for an epic fantasy on such a scale, and Kaladin is quite clearly the main focus while some of the others get too little space, which also restricts the number of locations and events that can actually be presented. And leaving Dalinar's arc completely out of part three, considering how it ended in part two, is an odd choice. But perhaps the one truly notable problem is that at times the reactions of others seem delayed, even time itself seems to stand still, to allow the arcs of the lead characters to follow a plan, including events being seen through certain eyes. And, to add an editing issue, details are hard to notice in the included sketches in the mass market paperback edition, and the handwriting is next to unreadable. But having such sketches included in such an edition at all is unusual in itself, and they do help with a few mental images even so.

One important difference between [b:The Way of Kings|9647295|The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436456720l/9647295._SY75_.jpg|8134945] and Words of Radiance is that the latter features far more action. Worldbuilding remains a major aspect, however, as does the philosophy and wisdom, the tackling of topics such as customs, religion and prejudice. Some reminders are included, but it largely moves past the basic, obvious elements of the world and towards a scope that's both wider and deeper, revealing major previously unknown aspects and details that may completely change what was believed to be known. Some revelations are carefully planned and constructed, in stages, others are sudden, shocking, and various hints, both obvious and vague, point to many more secrets left, proving how much more is still to come.
If in The Way of Kings the world sometimes seemed to stop and wait for the main characters, now there are a few moments when the action jumps ahead, leaving the reader to try to catch up. That's somewhat jarring, but clearly intentional, in large part in order to avoid revealing certain details too soon, which also applies to the quotes at the start of chapters, which get increasingly cryptic with each part. In truth, there's very little to complain about. The handwriting in most of the illustrations in the mass market paperback edition remains difficult to read, but a few of those are better as well, and it remains unusual for such an edition to have illustrations at all.
In terms of characters, Kaladin no longer overshadows all the others, Shallan rising to match and perhaps even surpass him, revealing much about herself. But this is about far more than any individual character, no matter how important, the story and the world being so gripping, with so many layers and facets, many yet to be revealed and, I'm sure, many more yet to allow to be properly understood. There are humorous moments, thrilling moments, moments with emotional and, if I may use the term, rational impact. Overall, again, a masterpiece. I'd also like to see the battle in a movie, though other moments struck me as "working" better in the book.

Note: The review refers to the edition included in [b:Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1|37537365|Free-Wrench Collection Volume 1|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516042345l/37537365._SX50_.jpg|59138557].

Must say that, after what was in fact just a NaNoWriMo project laid an interesting foundation, I expected more from what should have been a proper sequel. Yes, the world remains interesting and a few more details are presented, but Skykeep is just as short as [b:Free-Wrench|22824629|Free-Wrench (Free-Wrench #1)|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406500949l/22824629._SY75_.jpg|41324216] and more focused on action, leaving little room for worldbuilding, character development or making those points about some of the things that are wrong in our world. The call to fight against them still exists, however, being a part of the action. Still, there are some good things to be said about the development of Lil, perhaps to a small extent even Coop, and quite clearly about the inspectors. And the action is sufficiently gripping, the final chapter delivering on what was building up until then.
Taken like that, as just a story, and if you leave aside the few spots requiring better editing, including one where Coop apparently takes Gunner’s place as well even though he’s also in that scene at the same time, it’s good enough, reads quickly and keeps you interested to the end. It does seem more of a simple adventure, however, just a story taking place in a certain setting instead of the “proper” next book in a series. Then again, the Collection including the first three books in the series is probably the only one that should really count as a “proper” book…

Note: The review refers to the edition included in [b:Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1|37537365|Free-Wrench Collection Volume 1|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516042345l/37537365._SX50_.jpg|59138557].

Somewhat to my surprise, Ichor Well is more like a proper book in terms of size, albeit at the low end of that range. The final chapter again delivers in terms of the action, while until then there's space for more details and dialogues, a slower pace and more of a focus on the characters. In terms of this latter aspect, more nuances are added to the fug folk and a few are fleshed out a little more as individuals, though I'd say enough with the names, especially last names, that are variations of white or white objects already! On the other hand, not much is being done for the Wind Breaker's crew, the only visible effort being to continue to develop Lil but even that failing to produce worthwhile results.
Another notable problem is that it often feels like the author is thinking with his fingers. Effort is being made, but the "guts" are showing, many of the thought processes going into worldbuilding and potential outcomes of the action seeming rather dumped on the page, often by putting them in the mouths of characters. The clear impression is that, by attempting something more ambitious, the limits of the author's skill become far more obvious in every way.
Admittedly, Lucius is such a caricature of a villain that it's hard to take anything seriously with him in the picture, and the fact that those points previously made about some of the things wrong in our world and the calls to fight against them are also lost in the details would also seem to indicate a story that's not meant to be taken too seriously, at least not anymore. But, in that case, the pace is too slow and the real action too little, too late, leaving Ichor Well uncomfortably straddling between the simple adventure that [b:Skykeep|25064518|Skykeep (Free-Wrench, #2)|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439742850l/25064518._SY75_.jpg|44748471] was and the much more ambitious work that at other times it seems to strive to be. I'd still call it the better book, but its flaws are harder to dismiss.

Considering how short the included books, or at least the [b:first|22824629|Free-Wrench (Free-Wrench #1)|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406500949l/22824629._SY75_.jpg|41324216] [b:two|25064518|Skykeep (Free-Wrench, #2)|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439742850l/25064518._SY75_.jpg|44748471], are, I'm tempted to call Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1 the real first book in the series, even if that makes the recapitulation at the start of [b:Ichor Well|30859264|Ichor Well (Free-Wrench #3)|Joseph R. Lallo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1467777345l/30859264._SX50_.jpg|51467020] rather tedious. Other than that, I still don’t like how such Kindle bundles work, the whole thing being a single file and a single library entry, but that's Amazon's fault.

Quick reviews of the included books:
Free-Wrench – Rating: 3/5 [Note: Review of the stand-alone edition, in case there are any differences.]
Skykeep – Rating: 3/5
Ichor Well – Rating: 3/5

This really is a novelization, a lot of effort being made to go through the game as it's played, going way beyond merely describing and attempting to make events flow more naturally. There is a lot of added writing, and much of it is actually really, really good, greatly improving an already great story. The intermissions and the multiple and fitting storytellers are also a nice touch, and successfully including that evil alternate path was quite a feat. Powerful sections follow that moment, gathered together, and later the writing improves even further. The Maze is notable, but largely fixing Curst, which was the one part of the game's story that seemed lacking to me, is even more so. And what follows is better yet, adding many more details, written and fitting so well, developing, explaining, fleshing out and, in the end, providing closure... Or perhaps not, considering the epilogue, but I'd call that a good way to end it as well, even if it may not fit with the original concept.
It's in bad need of editing, however. I'd have thought that a fan effort would have been thoroughly corrected since it was first released, but it's full of typos, missing or repeated words, places where first and second person get mixed and, worst of all, places where the idea seems to have been changed in the middle of a sentence and the old text wasn't deleted before continuing with the new. There are also moments when the one writing the descriptions of actual gameplay seemed to get bored, skipping more, which can be rather jarring, and those persuasion scenes from Curst also seem rushed. But the worst "crime" is modifying "Longing". To change what may well be the best piece of writing in a game... I guess the idea was to clean it up, maybe even "complete" it to some extent, but it just doesn't work that way, the original text being all about raw emotion and being torn in that manner. Also, don't those memories about Deionarra contradict it? Or does that section refer to another moment?