Review: NPCs

Title: NPCs

Series: Spells, Swords, & Stealth #1

Author: Drew Hayes

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Blood (major), death (major), violence, gore, injury (graphic), body horror (mild), animal death (off-page, mentions), child death (mentions)

Back Cover:

What happens when the haggling is done and the shops are closed? When the quest has been given, the steeds saddled, and the adventurers are off to their next encounter? They keep the world running, the food cooked, and the horses shod, yet what adventurer has ever spared a thought or concern for the Non-Player Characters?

In the town of Maplebark, four such NPCs settle in for a night of actively ignoring the adventurers drinking in the tavern when things go quickly and fatally awry. Once the dust settles, these four find themselves faced with an impossible choice: pretend to be adventurers undertaking a task of near-certain death or see their town and loved ones destroyed. Armed only with salvaged equipment, secondhand knowledge, and a secret that could get them killed, it will take all manner of miracles if they hope to pull off their charade. And even if they succeed, the deadliest part of their journey may well be what awaits them at its end.

Review:

If I’m being honest, my expectations for this book were really, really low. It was a “You may also like” recommendation from my library’s audiobook app after I finished So You Had To Build a Time Machine, which was already a mark against it because that book had good ideas but was horribly done. I’ve read significantly more than my fair share of bad, mediocre, and just plain lazy high fantasy and fantasy RPG-themed novels. And honestly, it kinda had a “D&D nerd decided to write and self-publish a crappy novel” vibe, despite the fact that my library having it as an audiobook meant that was not the case. It made it onto my Low Standards list by concept alone, and I figured even if it didn’t turn out to be good, it did at least look like it wouldn’t be boring.

I haven’t had so much pure fun with a book since the Zoey Ashe series. This is a story that sends up and takes down all of the D&D tropes. Classes, magic, dungeons, adventurers’ interactions with towns, quests, tournaments, monsters … I caught myself legitimately grinning with sheer delight at so many points. There was a twist early on that I saw coming from a mile away but still thoroughly enjoyed because it was so wonderfully done. Being NPCs, the characters were wise to the tropes, but since they were pretending to be adventurers they had to participate in the tropes anyway. Knowing what’s “supposed” to happen is fun because the characters know it too and they have to deal with this bullshit. It’s fantastic.

And somehow, this highly entertaining book that feels like it should be lighthearted and pure fun also has remarkable emotional depth. There are genuine moments of poignancy and emotion and fear and sacrifice and despair and resignation. And somehow it didn’t clash at all with the entertainment and trope mockery. There is some actually really solid character growth – not incomparably amazing, but spectacular considering how much this seemed on the surface like a book that was here for laughs and nothing else. I actually like these characters. Actually, I love them. They’re growing up and changing and finding out new things and I actually really want to spend more books with them and see how they continue to grow and what new things they do.

Getting to see the townsfolk’s side of the story when I’ve always been playing the adventurer coming through town was both strange and fascinating. If you wanted to, you could read a theme of what happens when you treat some people as not truly people into this story. Or you can just enjoy RPG tropes being subverted in the most entertaining way possible. (Really, this book will likely be much less entertaining if you don’t know much about fantasy RPGs and their tropes. I adored it because I’ve been heavily involved in D&D for the past three years; if you don’t have that context, you’ll probably like it significantly less.)

I had really low expectations coming into this. I honestly thought it would be another for the DNF pile. But everything – the characters, the concept, the tropes and the characters’ awareness of the tropes, the emotion and growth – was spectacularly executed. I kept waiting for it to hit a turning point and disappoint me but it never did. My rule is to review the book I finished before I read the next book in the series, but I can’t express how tempted I was to throw that rule out the window and read book two IMMEDIATELY. So instead I wrote up the review within 24 hours of finishing the book just so I can let myself read book two. (How’s that for motivation?) I just had so much fun with this, and I can’t wait for the next one.

The Spells, Swords, & Stealth series:

1. NPCs
2. Split the Party
3. Going Rogue
4. Siege Tactics
5. Noble Roots

Review: The Blue Sword

Title: The Blue Sword

Series: Damar #1

Author: Robin McKinley

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Death, blood, war, kidnapping

Back Cover:

Harry Crewe is a Homelander orphan girl, come to live in Damar from over the seas. She is drawn to the bleak landscape, so unlike the green hills of her Homeland. She wishes she might cross the sands and climb the dark mountains where no Homelander has ever set foot, where the last of the old Damarians, the Free Hillfolk, live.

Corlath is the golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the legendary Lady Aerin. When he arrives in Harry’s town to ally with the Homelanders against a common enemy, he never expects to set Harry’s destiny in motion: She will ride into battle as a King’s Rider, bearing the Blue Sword, the great mythical treasure, which no one has wielded since Lady Aerin herself.

Legends and myths, no matter how epic, no matter how magical, all begin somewhere.

Review:

This book was published in 1982, but it isn’t dated at all, which is what I most worry about when picking up old books. It turned out to be just a really, really good book.

I struggled to get oriented with the world at first. One geographic area is literally called Home, and that was super confusing. So was the fact that it was obviously high fantasy but there’s also trains. This was mostly just a problem in the first couple chapters, though, and once I got past it the story was amazingly absorbing.

Harry is the main character. She’s the classic misfit I’d-rather-be-riding-than-doing-ladylike-things trope, but she does have a lot of self-control and is able to at least act like a lady when she has to. When the book opens she’d recently moved to the desert of Damar with her brother after the death of her parents, and she actually kinda likes it. She catches the attention of Corlath, king of the mysterious Hill People, when he comes to her town to do some diplomacy. The diplomacy does not go well, but before Corlath returns to his people, he kidnapps Harry and takes her with him. (I don’t feel like this is a spoiler because it happens in chapter two or three.)

Harry is remarkably chill with this new development, which I actually really enjoyed. It was so much fun to watch her earn the respect of the Hill People, get to know their culture, and learn some of their skills without a bunch of panicked what-is-going-on-take-me-back or simpering homesickness moments. Harry is really good at keeping her emotions bottled up – but there actually is a logical and plot-relevant reason for it. Mostly it keeps drama out of the way and puts the focus on the Hill People culture and Harry learning all sorts of awesome skills. Harry’s just a character that definitely has feelings but doesn’t display wild and dramatic emotions, and I actually really liked that about her.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because watching it unfold is the best part. A lot of different things happen as Harry becomes more and more a part of the Hill People, and it’s absolutely fantastic. Each new happening is better than the last one, to the point where the climax made my eyes literally tear up from … epicness? Is “I’m reading something epic” an emotion? Either way, I unequivocally loved it.

Spoilers – highlight to read: My only real problem with the book was the denouement (the part after the climax), and that’s really a personal thing. Harry leaves warrior-ing behind her, gets married, and has kids. I did not like that ending at all, mainly because that’s not a choice that I would have made. If I defeated a demon hoarde singlehandedly, there is no way in hell I would give up being a warrior to raise kids. I understand some people actually want to raise kids, but that seems like a major downgrade to me.

I don’t actually think I’m going to read book two, which is actually a prequel focusing on Lady Aerin. I’m sure it’s good, but I don’t really feel any need to read it – this book was perfectly self-contained and supremely satisfying. This book was really, really good and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Damar series:

1. The Blue Sword
2. The Hero and the Crown

Review: Tales from Perach

Title: Tales from Perach

Series: Mangoverse #5

Author: Shira Glassman

Genre: High Fantasy/Short Stories

Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, rape mention

Spoiler Warning: Even though this is the fifth book in the series, it’s a collection of short stories and there actually aren’t any spoilers for the previous books.

Back Cover:

Seven queer fantasy shorts set in the tropical Jewish world of the Mangoverse novels.

“Your Name is Love”
An energetic royal guard takes her artist wife on a scavenger hunt around the city so she can stop having artist’s block about the lesbian graphic novel she’s supposed to make for the queen.

“No Whining”
Trans woman Chef Yael dithers over whether to switch wine sellers, at the urging of her husband Aaron, when her regular vendor is incompetent but the delivery girl is a trusted ally.

“Every Us”
A prince with anxiety is comforted in the arms of his partner when he wakes up from a nightmare.

“Take Time to Stop and Eat the Roses”
A trans teenager and his girlfriend go on a midnight quest for flowers for her sister’s wedding.

“The Generous Princess”
A royal family with two moms and two dads puts their own special twist on celebrating Purim.

And now, bundled with Tales from Outer Lands, two contrasting stories of heroic Jewish womanhood:

“Rivka in Port Saltspray”
Trapped in a seedy port town because an innkeeper is holding her shapeshifting dragon-horse hostage until she can pay all the charges he invented, nomadic warrior Rivka finally has a chance at some decent money when a wealthy but weak man hires her to rescue his fiancée. But she has to think on her feet when she learns there may be more at stake.

“Aviva and the Aliens”
On the night before the royal Passover seder, Aviva has to outsmart the aliens who abducted her to cook for them because they had grown sick of their spaceship’s food replicators. Will she get home before Queen Shulamit wakes up and panics from her absence?

Review:

This is a collection of short stories set in the Mangoverse universe. If you’ve read the previous Mangoverse books, you’ll be familiar with at least one character in every story, but you really don’t need to read the previous books to follow what’s going on here.

I want to touch on each story individually before I move on to general thoughts.

Your Name is Love: Cute, fun, not a lot of plot. Mostly an excuse to follow to minor lesbian characters around and see them be romantic.

No Whining: Probably my least-favorite of these stories – not that it was bad, but I found Yael’s consternation a little irritating. The incompetent wine seller is damaging her business, but she resists switching to a better one because she likes the delivery girl. On one hand I understand, but on the other the restaurant is literally her livelihood and the delivery girl has other deliveries besides Yael’s restaurant.

Every Us: Suuuuper short. Felt more like an anecdote or a scene from something else than a story in its own right. Does show the dynamic between two characters from earlier books, though.

Take Time to Stop and Eat the Roses: Fun and cute, not much of a plot but doesn’t really need it. A feel-good story if there ever was one.

The Generous Princess: The least memorable of these stories for me, but that’s possibly because I don’t know much about Jewish holiday traditions. Likely to be much more interesting to someone familiar with the Purim celebration.

Rivka in Port Saltspray: A really enjoyable story from Rivka’s past, highlighting not only her experience as a warrior-for-hire but her integrity and drive to do the right thing. The longest of these stories and definitely worth the page time.

Aviva and the Aliens: I really didn’t expect aliens in this universe, and that felt a little jarring to me. But the story itself highlighted Aviva’s cleverness and was a quick but fun read.

This is really a light, fun, feel-good story collection. All of these stories have happy endings, and several of them don’t have much of a plot to speak of. Like the rest of the Mangoverse books, it’s meant to be simple, light, and enjoyable, without intensity or too many negative emotions at all, really. Which can be really nice and refreshing, especially if you tend towards dark and emotional reads like I do.

The Mangoverse Series:

1. The Second Mango
2. Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story
3. A Harvest of Ripe Figs
4. The Olive Conspiracy
5. Tales from Perach

Review: The Olive Conspiracy (DNF)

Title: The Olive Conspiracy

Series: Mangoverse #4

Author: Shira Glassman

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Sexual content (heterosexual and homosexual), death, breastfeeding

Spoiler Warning: This book is fourth in a series, so this review might contain spoilers of the previous three Mangoverse books. If spoilers matter to you, proceed with caution!

Back Cover:

A love story between women, between queen and country, and between farmers and their crops.

When Ezra tries to blackmail Chef Yael about her being trans, she throws him out of her restaurant and immediately reports him to the queen. But when police find Ezra stabbed to death, Queen Shulamit realizes he may have also tried to extort someone more dangerous than a feisty old lady.

The royal investigation leads straight to an international terrorist plot to destroy her country’s economy—and worse, her first love, Crown Princess Carolina of Imbrio, may be involved. Since she’s got a dragon-shifting wizard at her disposal, contacts with friendly foreign witches, and the support of her partner Aviva, Shulamit has hope. What she doesn’t have is time.

Read To: 57%

Review:

I really, really hate to not finish this book. I thoroughly enjoyed The Second Mango and Climbing the Date Palm, and A Harvest of Ripe Figs was good. I follow the author on Goodreads, and overall am just very fond of this series. But I found myself avoiding reading this book, so I think it’s time to call it a “did not finish.”

So why didn’t I like this one enough to finish it? Several reasons. First, the parenthood aspect. Such a big part of the story is the fact that Shulamit (and Aviva) is a mother now. I do not have kids, probably won’t ever have kids (by choice), and the most I encounter young kids is occasional video calls with my sister-in-law and her toddler and baby. I think it’s awesome that some people really want kids and more power to them, but I found the whole parenthood aspect in this story profoundly uninteresting.

Second, the awkwardness of the Princess Carolina subplot. When Shulamit was younger, she had a crush on Princess Carolina, and now that she thinks Princess Carolina might be behind this terrorist plot, there’s a bunch of intentionally awkward emotions that come up. Awkwardness is one of the few things I can’t stand in my entertainment, and it made me wince every time it came up.

Third, this is another mystery plot. I established in my review of A Harvest of Ripe Figs that mystery plots aren’t really my thing. Not a fault of the book – that one’s entirely on me.

I am fond of this series, and I’m really disappointed that this book just didn’t do it at all for me. But to the best of my understanding, the fifth book is a short story collection, so I think I’ll just skip over this one and read the next. And who knows, I own this book on Kindle – maybe I’ll come back and finish it someday.

The Mangoverse Series:

1. The Second Mango
2. Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story
3. A Harvest of Ripe Figs
4. The Olive Conspiracy
5. Tales from Perach

Review: A Harvest of Ripe Figs

Title: A Harvest of Ripe Figs

Series: Mangoverse #3

Author: Shira Glassman

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Emotionally abusive relationships, sexual content (heterosexual and homosexual)

Spoiler Warning: This book is third in a series, so this review probably contains spoilers of the previous two books, The Second Mango and Climbing the Date Palm. Proceed with caution!

Back Cover:

Esther of the Singing Hands is Perach’s Sweetheart, a young and beautiful musician with a Girl Next Door image. When her violin is stolen after a concert in the capital city, she doesn’t expect the queen herself to show up, intent upon solving the mystery.

But Queen Shulamit–lesbian, intellectual, and mother of the six month old crown princess–loves to play detective. With the help of her legendary bodyguard Rivka and her dragon, and with the support of her partner Aviva the Chef, Shulamit turns her mind toward the solution–which she quickly begins to suspect involves the use of illegal magic that could threaten the safety of her citizens.

Review:

Let me say this: I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous Mangoverse books. That’s not really any fault of the book, though. This book is first and foremost a mystery story, and I’m just not a huge fan of mysteries.

The plot focuses on the mystery of Esther’s missing violin, which also leads into the related mystery of “who’s using this illegal magic and where is it coming from.” As far as mysteries go, it wasn’t bad – like I said, I’m just not a huge fan of mysteries. And because this is a mystery, unlike the previous Mangoverse books, you will miss things if you try to read it in bits and pieces.

I also didn’t enjoy Shulamit as much this time around – but again, not really the book’s fault. Shulamit and Aviva are now parents, and most of their characterization in this book focused on their challenges as new parents to a baby. And as someone who has never had a child, that part wasn’t very relatable (or honestly, interesting) to me.

Beyond that, the major characters really haven’t changed much. Which isn’t a bad thing, since they’re all good, solid characters and I like them a lot. (See my review of Climbing the Date Palm for more specifics.)

This book also introduces a lot of new characters, most of whom were there because of the mystery aspects (suspects and/or witnesses) and I doubt they’ll be in future books. In some parts it gets kind of confusing because there’s so many different characters running around, and none of them are particularly interesting.

Okay, from reading this review so far you might get the impression that I don’t like this book at all. Which is not true. I didn’t like this book as much as the previous two, no, but I still enjoyed it. It was a lighthearted read, quick and fun, with solid characters, a good plot, and stakes that never seem super high. It’s a relaxation read, just like the other books in the series, and I definitely enjoyed it for that. And I will be continuing the series.

The Mangoverse Series:

1. The Second Mango
2. Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story
3. A Harvest of Ripe Figs
4. The Olive Conspiracy
5. Tales from Perach

Review: Climbing the Date Palm

Title: Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story

Series: Mangoverse #2

Author: Shira Glassman

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Threat of death, sexual content (implied or lightly described), homophobia

Spoiler Warnings: This book is second in a series, so this review will probably contain spoilers of the first book, The Second Mango.

Back Cover:

Prince Kaveh, the youngest son of the king of the City of Red Clay, is bisexual, and completely besotted with Farzin, the engineer his father hired to oversee the improvements to the city’s roads and bridges. However, the king doesn’t share his positive feelings. After Farzin ends up at the head of the protest that ensues when the workers are only paid a third of their promised wages, he’s thrown in prison and is scheduled to be executed.

Queen Shulamit, who rules over the neighboring nation of Perach, is eager to assist the desperate prince. She, too, loves justice and has a same-sex partner. She’s also hoping Kaveh, with his royal blood, is willing to give her and her sweetheart a legitimate heir in exchange. But can she find a peaceful solution that will pacify the king next door, get his workers fairly paid, and free Farzin? Or will she and her dragon-riding bodyguard Rivka have to go to war?

Review:

This story was very similar to the first book in the series, The Second Mango – in feel, that is, not in plot. Like the first book, Climbing the Date Palm was a fun, entertaining, not-very-deep story. However, it did go a bit darker than the first book.

Climbing the Date Palm introduces a whole new set of characters in a whole new kingdom, the main one being the bisexual Prince Kaveh, whose main personality trait seemed to be “being head-over-heels for this one guy.” Although, considering the circumstances of this one guy being sentenced to death, that can be forgiven. He kind of had that weak, wimpy younger prince trope going on, but overall I didn’t mind him.

I loved Shulamit again in this book. She’s brave, kind, and getting better at wielding her queenly power for the good of others. She feels scared and uncertain, and then she does what’s right anyway, and I admire her. The other major characters from The Second Mango, namely Rivka, Isaac, and Aviva, also play important roles, and they’re still great. Isaac gets a bigger part in this book, and he’s clever and fun to read about. Rivka is still awesome. And Aviva gets a bigger role and she’s sweet and supportive and a great complement to intellectual Shulamit.

As far as plot goes, this book mostly fixed the problem I had with book one – namely, that the problems didn’t have very high stakes. The stakes in this book involved a man’s life, war (if Shulamit and company can’t find a peaceful way to save Farzin) and the fate of an entire country (Perach if Shulamit doesn’t get a legitimate heir somehow). While it is pretty straightforward without any real twists, it was enough to keep me interested and thoroughly entertained.

There’s still not a whole lot about the setting in this book, but again, what you do get is great, and I love how Perach’s culture is based on Judaism. Since this is the second book with not a lot of setting details, I don’t have super high hopes for getting more in future books, but I can dream.

I only have one real problem, and it’s kind of nitpicky – the subtitle. I appreciate what Shira Glassman was trying to do with the whole pro-union message, but the banding together of the workers against the king didn’t actually work. That was the whole plot, that the king just ignored the workers’ attempts to unionize, imprisoned the person he felt was responsible, and Shulamit had to step in.

Overall, while it did have its problems, Climbing the Date Palm was fun, mostly lighthearted, entertaining, and just a great light read when you want something simple but enjoyable. I’m excited for book three.

The Mangoverse Series:

1. The Second Mango
2. Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story
3. A Harvest of Ripe Figs
4. The Olive Conspiracy
5. Tales from Perach

Review: The Second Mango

Image from Goodreads

Title: The Second Mango

Series: Mangoverse #1

Author: Shira Glassman

Genre: High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Death, kidnapping, f/f sex (barely described), m/f sex (implied)

Back Cover:

Queen Shulamit never expected to inherit the throne of the tropical land of Perach so young. At twenty, grief-stricken and fatherless, she’s also coping with being the only lesbian she knows after her sweetheart ran off for an unknown reason. Not to mention, she’s the victim of severe digestive problems that everybody thinks she’s faking. When she meets Rivka, an athletic and assertive warrior from the north who wears a mask and pretends to be a man, she finds the source of strength she needs so desperately.

Unfortunately for her, Rivka is straight, but that’s okay — Shulamit needs a surrogate big sister just as much as she needs a girlfriend. Especially if the warrior’s willing to take her around the kingdom on the back of her dragon in search of other women who might be open to same-sex romance. The real world outside the palace is full of adventure, however, and the search for a royal girlfriend quickly turns into a rescue mission when they discover a temple full of women turned to stone by an evil sorcerer.

Review:

I’ve had this book on my to-read book for a while after discovering Shira Glassman somewhere on Tumblr and picked it up because the ebook was cheap on Amazon. It’s short and it was a quick read, and I did enjoy the story. But I do have some reservations about it.

So let’s talk about what was good. The characters were great. Shulamit is a solid character, and even though she seemed a little too focused on sex (although that could just be me, since I’m asexual and don’t really think about sex at all), she had a lot of complicated feelings that made her really likable. She also has serious food allergies (celiac disease and a poultry allergy) that cause her a lot of problems, which added an interesting dimension.

The other major character, Rivka the warrior, was also well done – and interestingly, you actually get more of her backstory than Shulamit’s. Her history makes for a great dramatic story and she has some emotional pain she’s dealing with, which makes her especially enjoyable to read. She also has a great dynamic with Shulamit and I loved watching the two girls interact.

Information about the setting was sparse, but what there was was solid. I’m hoping future books in the series have more of it, because I’d love to learn more about Perach and how it works. The plot also wrapped up nicely and it had a great happy ending that I thoroughly loved.

Now let’s talk about the not-so-good stuff. Namely, the tension, or lack thereof. The plot is super straightforward (there’s only one twist, and it has more to do with Rivka’s emotional arc than the actual plot) and the tension never ramps up. They meet a problem, they solve it. They meet a problem, they solve it. They meet a problem, their lives are in danger for a few moments, they solve the problem. The tension is minimal, they never run into other problems while solving a different problem, and in a lot of ways it just feels too easy.

But even given that, did I enjoy it? Yes, thoroughly. It was light and fun, and though it was missing a lot of the complexity I was expecting from a fantasy novel, sometimes simplicity is good and I missed next to nothing reading it in bits and pieces. It was a fun romp and I just bought book two – I’m looking forward to continuing the simple, light adventure in the Mangoverse.

The Mangoverse Series:

1. The Second Mango
2. Climbing the Date Palm: A Labor Rights Love Story
3. A Harvest of Ripe Figs
4. The Olive Conspiracy
5. Tales from Perach

Review: The Well of Ascension

Title: The Well of Ascension

Series: Mistborn #2

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: High Fantasy

Spoiler Warning: This book is second in a series, so this review probably has spoilers of book one, Mistborn.

Back Cover:

Evil has been defeated. The war has just begun.

They did the impossible, deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

Review:

After how awesome Mistborn was, even as a reread, I jumped at this book (minus a small break to read Waistcoats and Weaponry). I barely bothered to read the back cover, I was so excited to get started.

I will confess, though, it took me a little bit to get into it. Mistborn wrapped up so well that there really were no open ends to explore in a beginning, and it almost felt like starting a brand-new book, plot-wise – it was 95% set-up. But it wasn’t long until I got absorbed again.

Almost all of the characters in The Well of Ascension were the same as Mistborn, but had different roles. Kelsier’s team has much smaller roles; Elend was a main character (and got a lot of development, which I loved). Zane, Straff Venture’s Mistborn, was an insane (literally) but interesting addition to the cast. And kandra OreSeur had a much more prominent role, which made things interesting.

This book was a lot more character-centric than I expected. Half of the plot was the characters’ emotional response to problems. And because the characters felt real and human and full of confusing and contradicting feelings, it was awesome. It would probably be less awesome if you don’t like the characters, but I loved them, so no issue there.

All these characters were freaking smart. That’s most of what made the plot so gripping. The obvious answer is never the answer because the characters are too smart for that. Everything was hidden under two or more layers of deception. They were smarter than me, actually – I could never guess the right answer.

There is a lot of politics in this book. Elend and company are trying to create a whole new government – a semblance of a constitutional monarchy after a thousand years of dictatorship. Normally I don’t like politics, but I was actually kind of interested in these. Part of that was there was so much other stuff intertwined with it that it didn’t feel much like politics, and part of that was I loved the characters.

The two main parts of this plot are politics and emotions. It was fascinating watching idealistic Elend try to put together his dream government with former slaves and position-less nobles, and deal with it when it didn’t work the way he hoped. And then there was Vin. She had a lot of stuff to deal with, from her and the man she loves being (she thinks irreconcilably) different to her main skill being killing things. It had the potential to get boring and overdone, but since there were so many things, it didn’t for me.

I don’t want to say too much because 1, I don’t want to spoil it, and 2, there’s no possible way I could cover all the brilliant little details. So I guess I’ll just say the plot (once it got started) was the kind of plot that makes you want to devour a 600+ page book in a day.

Again, the Mistborn world is AMAZING. And in this book, we get to learn a lot more about this world. And not just the “so this is how that works” stuff – it was mostly mind-blown, “holy crap I did not see that coming” stuff. Even the characters got surprised by a lot of the stuff. Brandon Sanderson is great at writing a lot of things, but world-building has to be his best.

It’s really hard to discuss the individual elements of this book because everything is intertwined. Characters influence plot, world influences politics, and everything has an effect on everything else. But even though that makes it hard for me to review, I love it – because those kinds of books are the best ones, the ones that feel real.

My final verdict in three words: NEED BOOK THREE! Not only was The Well of Ascension fabulous (I might even go as far as to say better than Mistborn), it ended on a cliffhanger. So I definitely need to get my hands on The Hero of Ages ASAP.

The Mistborn series:

1. Mistborn (for my 2012 review, click here)
2. The Well of Ascension
3. The Hero of Ages

The Wax and Wayne Mistborn series:
(a companion series with Mistborn magic in the early 1900s)

1. The Alloy of Law
2. Shadows of Self (October 6, 2015)
3. The Bands of Mourning (January 2016)
4. The Lost Metal (tentative title)

 

Review: Mistborn (Re-Review)

Title: Mistborn

Series: Mistborn #1

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: High Fantasy

Back Cover:

For a thousand years, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal Lord Ruler.  Every revolt against his cruel reign has failed.  But hope survives – and he bears the scars of the inescapable Pits.  A new kind of uprising being planned, this one built abound the ultimate caper, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind…and the determination of a street urchin who must learn to harness the power of a Mistborn.

Review:

I read Mistborn three years ago, and my final verdict was “it’s a really good book, but I’m not interested in sequels.” But Brandon Sanderson is my boyfriend’s favorite author and Mistborn is his favorite series, so he’s been “encouraging” me to finish the series for as long as we’ve been dating. And since I found myself with a lot of spare time to read during a family road trip, I figured I might as well reread the whole series.

Vin is skaa (basically peasant/slave), using her supernatural Luck to survive as part of a thief band in the brutal slums of Luthadel. She grew up with the promise that everyone would abandon her eventually, and spent her life perfecting the art of being unnoticeable. So when the story starts, she’s independent, smart, courageous, and very distrustful. Her character development is great, though, and as she slowly makes friends, she slowly becomes a better and better character to read about.

Kelsier, survivor of the Pits and orchestrater of rebellions, was awesome. Mainly because he was nuts. Sometimes he made me laugh from the sheer insanity of his audacious stunts. But his devil-may-care attitude contrasted with his intense devotion to the people he cared about, and his careless audacity hides a sad past. He is quite possibly my favorite fantasy character ever.

This review is going to be really long anyway, so I’m not going to mention any other characters. But all of them were great. Even the ones that seemed minor turned out to be important in some way. And they all have unique and different personalities.

As far as plot goes, it actually had a classic “hero’s journey” plot. To shamelessly paraphrase a fabulous Goodreads review:

[Kid with weird name] is only a [unimportant social standing], but suddenly discovers they [have weird and/or cool power or calling]. They are the only one who can [epic world-changing quest]. Luckily, even though they are totally new at this, they quickly become better than anyone else at [weird power or skill].

That’s not to say the plot wasn’t good, though. There’s a reason that plot is a classic – it works! Especially with Sanderson writing it. Watching Vin go from skaa thief to Mistborn and join Kelsier’s quest to overthrow the Lord Ruler was quite enjoyable (especially with Kelsier’s crazy antics), and I enjoyed watching Vin learn and grow. But quite honestly, the main reason this (I hate to say it, but somewhat uncreative) plot works is because of three things: Kelsier’s practically insane plans, the world, and the magic.

(Side note: The first time I read Mistborn, I complained that Vin spent too much time going to balls. I had no such complaints this time around – I thought it was a good balance. Although that could be because the balls were where the faint hint of romance happened, and I’ve become much more accepting of romance subplots as I’ve gotten older.)

The magic and world were FANTASTIC. Admittedly, I’ve only read five of Sanderson’s many works, but he is awesome at creating magic systems and building worlds. The whole world in this story, from the glittering balls of the nobility to the filthy slums to a landscape so bleak the idea of green plants seems strange, is brilliantly imagined and vividly described without including a lot of description. And the magic of Allomancy – metals-based and full of limitations, with powers ranging from amazing to almost useless-seeming – is amazingly original. If it sounds like I’m being vague, I am, because watching all the pieces fall into place for the first time is so much fun.

I actually liked this book more the second time around. The awesome magic and world were incredibly detailed, which I loved, but with something as unique as Mistborn, it’s easy to get lost. Even by the time I finished it the first time, I had a hard time keeping things straight. Rereading it three years later actually made it better, because I had forgotten enough that it was fun to discover again, but I remembered enough that I wasn’t totally lost and I could pick up on the nuances I missed the first time.

One thing I feel is important to mention – this is an adult book, but it’s not an adult book. It’s remarkably clean for adult high fantasy and even the word choices read more like young adult. (Plus Vin is only 16, so that certainly gives it a more YA feel.)

Mistborn was good the first time, but it was even better as a reread, mostly because I understood all the wonderful complexities better. This time, I actually am interested in reading the rest of the series – and not just because my boyfriend says I should. I would love to spend another book with these characters (but mostly that world …).

The Mistborn series:

1. Mistborn (sometimes subtitled “The Final Empire”)
2. The Well of Ascension
3. The Hero of Ages

The Wax and Wayne Mistborn series:
(a companion series with Mistborn magic in the early 1900s)

1. The Alloy of Law
2. Shadows of Self (October 6, 2015)
3. The Bands of Mourning (January 2016)
4. The Lost Metal (tentative title)

Review: Eon

Title: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (or The Two Pearls of Wisdom)

Series: Eon #1

Author: Alison Goodman

Genre: High Fantasy

Back Cover:

For years, Eon’s life has been focused on magical study and sword-work, with only one goal: to be chosen as a Dragoneye, an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use dragon magic – the penalty is death. When Eona’s secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a struggle for the Imperial throne. Eona must find the strength and inner power to battle those who wish to take her magic … and her life.

Review:

Eon has been languishing on my to-read list for years. Chinese mythology is fun, and girls disguising themselves as boys usually makes for some fun plots. I bought this on a whim back in February, and I just now got around to reading it.

Eon/Eona…first off, I’m not sure which to call her. Eona had spent so long repressing her femininity and being Eon that most of the time she was more Eon than Eona. So anyway, for the most part, I liked her. Occasionally I got annoyed that she didn’t figure things out sooner, but it could just be me being a plot predictor. But overall, I enjoyed watching her navigate the story.

The plot started out so simple. Eon the cripple was trying to hide that he’s really a girl and be chosen as the Rat Dragon apprentice. That’s all. Then after the ceremony where the Rat Dragon chooses an apprentice, things get messy. A ruthless Dragoneye intent on taking all the power, secrets being kept and discovered, lies told, allies and enemies and dragons making a delightful mess. The plot more than made up for anything I didn’t like about Eon/Eona.

Through the whole book, the names annoyed me. This was obviously China, but nobody had Chinese names! Then I got to the end and found an author’s note that said while the world was based off China and Japan, it was actually completely made up. So I can’t really complain about it, but I wish the note had been in the beginning.

I was quite pleased with Eon. And it ended on a semi-cliffhanger – bad enough that I’m definitely going to have to read Eona, but not so bad that I have to run out and buy it immediately.

The Eon duology:

1. Eon
2. Eona