rikuson1's reviews
78 reviews

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

The Sea of Monsters was a decent read. Although my engagement of the first book was stronger, this one did feel like it went by faster. Tyson was a decent new character. He and Percy's relationship over the book was decent enough by the end, and I doubt it's the last time we'll see him. I do prefer the trio of the last book over this one, though. Clarisse also seems to have a bit more to her and the reveal at the end, although not a heavy hitting as the reveal at the end of book 1 was also decent enough for me to want to continue. 


Verdict 
As you can tell by the number of times I've used the word decent above, that's because there's no other word I can think of to describe this entry. I didn't resonate with it as hard as I did the first book, but I that's probably because everything was new to me and that charm was fresh, this one just felt like more of the same but I don't think I can say this book was bad because it didn't have is own charm because it somewhat did, it's just not as resonating to me as the first one is all and it seems most people feel that way about this entry anyway. Nonetheless, it was good enough for what I felt it was trying it execute.

I Liked It

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

 With this volume named Garma, it takes us through the entirety of his arc in the series, and it's better than I remembered from the TV series. We also dive into further struggles with Amuro, I liked the small arc with him going to meet his mother and her breaking down of how much he had changed for the worse in her opinion. Garma is less unlikable in this version, and I enjoyed his short-lived dynamic with Char.

Verdict 
Volume 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is better than the first, not by a lot, but there is no debate that it is not. Garma's betrayal and conclusion felt climatic and very good. There is a lot of great art within this volume as well. So, with all that being said,

I Really Liked It

I Really Liked It 😊
-★★★★✮- (4.50/5.00)
My Grading Letter Score = 90% (A)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Volume 3: Ramba Ral was great. Once again, it dives further into the struggles of characters on White Base. Amuro, Fraw, Bright, and Sayla are standouts at showcasing their turmoil in this volume. 

Ramba Ral was an amazing antagonist who pushed Amuro's piloting skills to his absolute limit he as a character was great as well. I can understand some who may think his conclusion was anticlimactic, though, and probably is why it did not reach a five-star for me. But the amount of entertainment he brought permeate throughout the volume named after him that it far from ruins it in its entirety. 


Verdict 
The volumes are only improving more and more. This entire one was an absolute page turner with the best colored panels thus far. With nothing else needed to be said, 

I Really Liked It

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

I purchased this book way back when it came out, and during the time of me purchasing it, I actually had no intention of reading it. Not because I didn't care about what was in the book but because during the time I wasn't actually a reader of books and merely purchased it to support a good friend of my the author, Torrence Davis. 

Now that I'm actually a reader of books, I picked it up and read through it bit by bit during my slow time at my work shift. If you know Torrence Davis and have talked to him to any degree then you probably will get the gist of what you are in for, an entertaining telling of his experiences through what ever he is talking about and that's exactly what this book is and it was good.


Verdict
Outside of this being essentially an entertaining autobiography, there were a few tid-bits here and there within the book that gave you small little motivational speeches about following your dreams and tempering your craft whatever they may be. Old interviews and additional things that were thrown in there may be intriguing to read through around the end as well. Overall, it's not anything mind-blowing or amazing, but that's not the point. Like said in the book, if you're going to write something, at least attempt to make it interesting to the best of your ability, and with that, I'd say the mission was accomplished because... 

I Liked It

It Was Amazing 🤩
-★★★★★- (5.00/5.00) 
My Grading Score = 100% (S) 

The Emperor's Soul does not waste any time hopping straight into what this short story is all about and executing it all in a very good way. The magic system and characterization in this novella are some of the best I've read thus far with the amount of time this story goes on for. It is beyond just impressive it is simply brilliant on most criteria that can be critiqued. 

Brandon Sanderson's Prose
As opposed to the two other Brandon Sanderson Books I've completed at the time of writing this review (Elantris of 2005 and Warbreaker of 2009) The Emperor's Soul would be the most recent written piece he's done that I've read thus far being published in 2012 and I can definitely see the improvement in his writing style. My biggest and really only complaint when it came to his two previous works is that I was not a big fan of the execution of the characterization via narration. It felt like Brandon Sanderson was narrating too much of their characterization and backstory to me vs. letting the character showcase or voice that out themselves. Although this writing style, I like it a lot more. It is a combination of very elegantly written characterization via narration alongside that very character capitalizing on that aspect by essentially grabbing the baton and finishing off the execution of whatever the scene seems to be that had been setup by the narrator. This can happen backward as well or be a constant dance between the character and the narrator, showcasing what is needed to be portrayed via the scene, and it's very well balanced and done. If this is how his current writing style is, I'm here for it. If it's even better in future stories, then I'm even more looking forward to reading more by him.


Verdict: 

This is said to take place in the same world as Elantris, but there are no story connections between the two required. This is most definitely a standalone and if I were to recommend a great novella to anyone that wanted to get a small taste of what Brandon Sanderson is praised for, I'd recommend this over any of his other works. I'd even go as far as to say I'd recommend this over his more popular and bigger ones like Mistborn and Stormlight because of the fact that the barrier for entry and commitment required to read this one is far lower than I think it beats the others out in that regard which is a big selling point, for someone who wants to see what the fuss about him is about but doesn't want to read hundreds of pages worth to understand the hype behind him. If they wanted to read more, then they can figure out from this entry point moving forward. For people that have read his stuff but not this one, this is a Brandon Sanderson entry that I would not skip over. The best thing I've read from him so far. When I read some of his more well-known and higher-rated ones, I doubt it'll make me think any less of The Emperor's Soul, but I do look forward to reading more higher-tier works by him because if this is this good, saying "I'm in for a treat" is an understatement.

It Was Amazing