APRIL READS

April was a much more productive reading month in terms of volume, largely thanks to the inclusion of a shorter story and a graphic novel. 

1. Oathbringer


This somehow managed to top the already 5/5 experience I had with the prior book

All of my fears that this would be a huge letdown after how much I loved Words of Radiance ended up being completely shattered. While I would still strongly argue that these novels could be shorter, I think this is some of the best fantasy I have ever read. The action, the plot twists, and the endearing character moments were all just so incredible. It brought me smiles, it ripped my heart out, and it sent my mind racing all in equal measure. While I've heard that fans were not quite as thrilled with the next book in the series, I honestly don't think I will be able to help myself from tearing right into it as soon as possible. 
 

2. Children of Time


This  4/5 read was a satisfyingly bizarre trip across space and time 

There are very few books that I finish where I can honestly say that I have never read anything quite like it, but that was just the case with Children of Time. It didn't always land perfectly for me, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a profoundly memorable story. I don't know for sure if I will read the other books in this trilogy right away or not. Tchaikovsky has a large back-catalogue of distinct works that I might want to sample first, but either way I will definitely be reading more by this author. 
 

3. Zero Twist


A bombastic 4/5 free story

The fact that this prequel story for the Hybrid Helix story is totally free is kind of crazy. It was professionally polished, nicely structured, and offers some good fun with little sprinkles of things to reflect on. Serving as a great entry point to Berne's writing or a bonus episode for his existing fans, I think everyone should give this one a chance, just be warned that there is a weird alien romance that borders on furry content (though it's not graphic at all). 
 

4. Ascender Vol. 2


This was still a  4/5 though I am getting a little impatient with the series. 

I continue to be a fan of this series and the way it reimagines the universe from it's preceding series, Descender. There are definitely some high points to be found here, but overall, I find myself feeling like I really want the plot to pick up the pace. Since this is only a four volume series, I would have expected things to feel a lot more developed by now. As things stand, the third and fourth installments are poised to either deliver some intensely satisfying payoff or else fall on their face. 
 

BONUS: The Two Towers


I still liked this less than the other books, but it was a delightful 4/5 reread all the same.

As with The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, I enjoyed my experience with this book even more on my second time through. That said, I think it is still my least favorite part of The Lord of the Rings, largely just due to how arduous the early part of the journey is as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli cross vast stretches of land in pursuit of their captured friends. I'd also completely forgotten that Frodo and Sam's part are saved for "Book 4," A.K.A. the second half of this installment. Having the stories split up does work well, but it definitely threw me off since it is structured so differently both from the movie adaptations as well as from how modern fantasy books are laid out. These things aside, I had a really good time with this one, I just had to make sure that I was in the right mood for it whenever I picked it up. I will also say that some of the more action-centric scenes were better than I remembered. No, they don't really compare to what you're going to find in a more recent epic fantasy novel nor are they as exciting as what you'd find in the Peter Jackson films, but for what Tolkien was doing here, I thought they were handled well enough. I'd also forgotten how cool certain character moments were in both halves of the book. My enjoyment of these stories is certainly further enhanced by even more beautiful artwork done by Alan Lee. 

Looking ahead to May, I will be continuing my journey through the Stormlight Archive books on Audio. I'll kick things off with the Dawnshard novella and then begin the fourth mainline novel, though that will last me well into June and perhaps even part of July. I will also be aiming to get through at least most of the third and final part of The Lord of the Rings.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: DEFIANT (SONGS OF CHAOS #3)

Image
Sons of the night... In the spirit of continuing to catch up on series I've started, I decided to read the third available book in the Songs of Chaos series, mistakenly thinking it was the last.  HOW I RATED IT  4/5  In spite of my incorrect belief that this was the last book in a trilogy, I had a great deal of fun with the third entry into the SONGS OF CHAOS series.  NOTE:  While this review does not contain major spoilers for  DEFIANT , it does mention specific things about  ASCENDANT  and UNBOUND that could be considered as such.   CHARACTERS As with the previous book, this adventure is told across multiple points of view. Holt, Talia, and Osric all return as key persons of interest and are now joined by others like the half-dragon Rake as well as Paragon Adaskar at different points. Even though each had their own mission, I felt like their stories were much more connected this time around. This might be because they were each trying to combat the Scourge in their own way. We
Read more

REVIEW: DRAGON AGE: THE SILENT GROVE (DRAGON AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS #1)

Image
A king and his rogues... THE SILENT GROVE  is a graphic novel set in the universe of the   DRAGON AGE video games that I'd picked up at a local comic shop a while ago, mostly because they didn't have what I was looking for and I like the Dragon Age franchise. HOW I RATED IT  3/5  Everything about this was just fine. The art, the story, the characters are perfectly serviceable, but I ultimately found this to be just okay as a tie-in story to the DRAGON AGE video game universe.  CHARACTERS This story stars three highly recognizable characters from the games: Alistair, Varric, and Isabela which is an interesting trio to say the least even though Varric and Isabela were both party members in DRAGON AGE 2 . One thing I will praise is that the writers did a good job of establishing each of them for readers who may not have played through the games which is a nice touch (even though other aspects are less accessible to newcomers). Where I think the characters falter is that there is
Read more

REVIEW: EVERYONE'S A ALIEBN WHEN UR A ALIEBN TOO

Image
Our world through the eyes of an alien... INTRODUCTION  No I didn't make some horrible spelling blunder in the title of this post, you're actually reading it exactly as intended. Given to me as a parting gift from a friend at work, EVERYONE'S A ALIEBN WHEN UR A ALIEBN TOO , is a charmingly misspelled adventure into the human experience. It's a piece of fiction that will warm your heart, make you chuckle, and slap you in the face with sorrow, often within the span of a single breath. It's honest and heartfelt in all of the ways that count with some adorable visuals and bold typography to go with it. While some would rightly argue that this is actually more of a graphic novel, the way it's formatted is actually far more like a children's book, just one that's written for adults. HOW I RATED IT  5/5  Though it can occasionally be found guilty of overreaching, this is one book that should really be read by anyone who has even a Grinch-sized a hear
Read more