rikuson1's reviews
78 reviews

I Really Liked It 😃
-★★★★✬- (4.25/5.00) 
My Grading Score = 85% (A-)

The ideas and concepts in this book are very straightforward and thought-provoking to a very high degree. As a man and depending on the experiences you've had with the other gender, a lot of what he's stating to some degree should and probably will hit close to home to you. It's riddled with uncomfortable truths and goes into a detailed analysis of the very foundation of hypergamy, and it's a very hard pill to swallow if you aren't fully prepared for how deep Rollo Tomassi goes. 


Verdict
I personally feel I can recommend this to any man out there whether you are or are not struggling to fully figure out more about female instinctual behavior and what are the best things you can do for yourself in regards to giving yourself the outcome that is favorable to not only you but your possible future partner via you understanding the meta of it all more than you have before you read it in here. By what this book set out to accomplish, I felt it nailed what it wanted to do and then some. I can't really disagree with the majority of any of the statements presented in this book. Although the plate spinning theory makes sense, I'm not sure if I could recommend it myself. My only other nitpick is the amount of acronyms used throughout the book, I know once they are said for the first time it is defined, but if you forget what that acronym stood for, then it does feel like when the acronym is said chapters at later you miss out on the context of the concept being fully explained to you. I feel like a way this could have been alleviated a bit was to define each of the acronyms at least a few times each throughout the book. Some of them were, but some were not. Outside of that one small gripe, this book, I really liked it, and I'm glad I read it.

I Really Liked It 

I liked it 😌
-★★★✬☆- (3.25/5.00)
My Grading Score = 65% (C+)

The prologue starts off very gruesome with what had occurred at the end of the previous entry and then it hops into a flashback following another character that was one of the three main character of the previous entry as well. Then, it hops over to following a new character that is the apprentice to two out of three of the previous main characters for most, if not the rest of the book. 

With all that being said, the number of perspective changes this time around was quite a lot. It took me a while to get used to this way of storytelling, but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it was as it stayed quite straightforward for the most part even when this occurred. The pacing was all over the place when it came to the entry, mostly on the faster-paced side of things, especially in comparison to Breach of Peace. The final quarter of the book was even more action-packed than Breach of Peace's ending. I can also tell through this one that the conflict, action, and especially the fight scenes have improved, so that's a plus as well.

Daniel B. Greene's Prose
I can see an improvement in Daniel's prose. The narration had little to no profanity, which is a plus to me as I'm not a fan of the voice of the narrator doing that often, I don't care what the vibe of the book is. His style in regards to explaining things and actions of the characters I felt was also a tad more refined as well. 

Verdict
Rebel's Creed was a tad of a step to its predecessor, Breach of Peace, in almost every aspect. I feel like if you liked Breach of Peace, then you should definitely be able to get enjoyment out of this one as well. I am looking forward to reading future entries.

I Liked It 

I Liked It 😉
-★★★✭☆- (3.75/5.00)
My Grading Score = 75% (B)

Being Brandon Sanderson's first published book, I thought this one was an impressive one. People state that this one is one of his weakest books and you might even hear Sanderson himself talk about Elantris in a way that may sound like he's not super proud of it because he's probably looking at it in hindsight especially in comparison to apparently how better he is now. With that being said, I still fairly enjoyed Elantris. 

The City of Elantris was interesting with mystery in regards to what we know it to be in the past and what it currently is during the current story. I thought the characters were interesting, well written, and entertaining enough to follow. Sarene is my favorite and, in my opinion, the best-written, followed by Raoden and then Hrathen. Hrathen, in particular, didn't fully grow onto me even to the very end of the story. He wasn't badly written to any degree, but his portion didn't feel as relevant as the other two, and that is probably done that way on purpose, which isn't a knock on it if it was. I did find his strong religious background his most interesting and well-executed thing about him, though. 

There was one random plot pull in regards to something teleportation-related scene around the end that is done in a way that I can not deny bothered me, and it indeed felt contrived. It's probably my biggest gripe and the reason I might give Warbreaker just a little bit of an edge overall to this.

Verdict:
The point is if you're interested in Elantris, don't let the stigma of "this is his weakest book" stop you, just because it's one of his weakest doesn't mean it's bad. I wouldn't start here as your first Sanderson book that goes to The Emperor's Soul. But as a second book from him, I'd say this is find enough especially since it takes place in the same world as The Emperor's Soul but not needed.

I Liked It

I Was Okay 🥴
-★★✭☆☆- (2.75/5.00)
My Grading Score 55 = % (C-) 

I'm not really big on short stories. Most of the time, they do not provide me with enough to pull from to get to a satisfying level of investment that I prefer to have when I read a story. I chose to read this one because I had something coming up soon and didn't want to start anything large, and it sufficed, I guess. The Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell is a short story that, by the end, I did end up enjoying to say the most. The entire thing was very fast-paced, probably a bit too face-paced for my liking, though. It introduced a chunk of characters at the start, and it felt just a bit overwhelming to me, even though there were only about four of them that the reader is really required to focus on. The story, like the name, has a veil of horrific atmosphere associated with it and had a nice chunk of brutal action scenes that's what you like. The characters were all alright. None of them were bad, but nothing worth praising. 

Verdict
I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite entries into the Cosmere. The first half of the short story, I actually was not feeling it at all. But the second half, more so or less, made up for the first half. As a short story, looking at the entire thing, I can say I came think it was just okay. And if a short story horror sounds like something you're in for and one that has no important connection to the Cosmere thus no knowledge going into this is needed for you, then you can probably give this one a go.

It Was Okay

I Really Liked It 😄
-★★★★☆- (4.00/5.00)
My Grading Score = 80% (B+)

The Alloy of Law, from the first chapter, I could feel the refreshing return of being back into Mistborn, overflowing me again, and it was great. Taking place in this new era was very interesting to me, and this is coming from someone who does not care for wild west, gunslinging type of stories. 

The Allowmancy and Feruchemy being embedded into the gunslinging action definitely gave it a unique flavor to the genre I wouldn't go out of my way to read and probably why it worked for me. I thought all the characters were pretty good, and I loved the duo that is Wax and Wayne, I felt they complimented each other very well. Marasi, I thought, was very likable, and I liked her struggles of feeling like she's useless but showcasing that can contribute when the time comes, I enjoyed her character development throughout this book. Steris was more straightforward and on the lesser interesting side of things in comparison to Marasi, but I think she has the potential to change this, as seen in her final scene moving forward. I am actually a fan of love triangles as I can see one being set up here between Wax, Marasi, and Steris, and I'm looking forward to how that flourishes. 

Worldbuilding wise, I liked how previous characters of the Era 1 have their names embedded into the locations of Era 2 it made the worldbuilding feel all the more personal and alive to me, I'll leave it at that though. 

Verdict
The Alloy of Law was fast-paced, action-packed, short, and sweet. Brandon Sanderson had fun writing this one, and it shows. 

I Really Liked It