Lots of good ideas, some wasted potential, an interesting Panemesque setting on Mars, but too much bad writing, Sevro ex machina and Darrow Stu for my taste – still, this series looks promising.
Kategorie-Archive:3 STARS
Review: MALICE (THE FAITHFUL AND THE FALLEN #1) by John Gwynne
Unpopular opinion time once again.
Second read of the year, second highly anticipated series of the year, second disappointment. And this time it’s definitely not a thing of taste: in my opinion, Malice, a book I’ve heard mostly gushing reviews about, is just mediocre. Obvious plot, boring characters, terrible tropes I hate.
Review: JADE CITY (THE GREEN BONE SAGA #1)
A predictable Urban Fantasy in a Hong Kongish setting that reveals what’s gonna come right at the start by its choice of narrators. Technically well-written but without a soul.
Rezension: DIE GOLDENEN WÖLFE
Ein schön geschriebener Versuch, „Das Lied der Krähen“ mit vielfältigeren Charakteren und Rätseln zu reproduzieren, die fast genau aus „Sakrileg“ kopiert wurden. Daher fehlt es ganz entschieden an Originalität und dieses Buch kann nie das tun, was seine Schreibvorlagen so bravourös getan haben: Es bleibt ein blasser Schatten ihrer Brillanz, aber ist eine unterhaltsame Lektüre, bis zu dem verpfuschten, schlecht geschriebenen Ende.
Review: THE GILDED WOLVES
A nicely written try to recreate Six of Crows with more diverse characters and riddles almost exactly copied from The Da Vinci Code. Thanks to that, it lacks originality and it can never do the things these books did as good as they did: it stays a pale copy of their brilliance, but is an entertaining read, right up to the botched, badly written ending.
Rezension: A SKY BEYOND THE STORM (ELIAS&LAIA #4)
Gleich vorneweg: Ich bin sehr enttäuscht, weil dieses Buch eine Menge Handlungsstränge und Dinge beinhaltet, die ich hasse – ALLERDINGS: für wen diese Dinge in Ordnung sind, der wird dieses Buch lieben.
Review: A SKY BEYOND THE STORM (AN EMBER IN THE ASHES #4)
First things first: I’m very disappointed because this book included a lot of tropes and things I hate within books – HOWEVER, if you’re okay with these things, you’ll love this one. But I didn’t. I’ve had a lot of negative thoughts about its two last prequels (I still love Ember, but I felt that I got weaker and weaker afterwards) and all of the things I hated, especially in A Reaper at the Gates, are here once again. And there’s even more.
Review: SIEGE AND STORM (SHADOW AND BONE #2)
This one isn’t as good as Shadow and Bone, but the introduction of Nikolai defintely makes up for it. When I say it’s not as good as the prequel, I really mean it. While the storytelling improves and Leigh Bardugo summons suprises and plot twists as Alina would summon the sun, the story as a whole suffers from a huge overload of love triangle.
Review: A REAPER AT THE GATES (AN EMBER IN THE ASHES #3)
No, it’s true. This isn’t a mistake. I haven’t had some sort of fit that made me miss that fifth star. I also didn’t sneeze so hard that I missed the fourth star. I’ve really, out of the dephts of my conscience and heart, given one of Sabaa Tahir’s books only three stars.
Review: THE DEVIL AND THE DARK WATER
A murder mystery set on a ship in the 17th century with intriguing characters and a promising idea that does not unravel as magnificently as expected: everything is just what you expect it to be.
