Reviews of quite a few books, so just look at it, why don't you?

So, for reasons known only to itself, my automatic posting isn't working again. As such, there will probably be batch reviews every Sunday until it starts working again.

Oh, and I was feeling kind of soft-hearted after the whole WoT thing, so I think I gave all of these 3 stars. What can I say? Maybe they were just good.

Oh, not wait, I've returned to decimals. Proceed at risk of your brain exploding (kidding, I rounded to the nearest tenth this time).

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So, first is A Memory of Light, plus a minor freak-out:

I FINISHED ALL FOURTEEN BOOKS! I FINISHED WHEEL OF TIME! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! etc.

Actually, the ending kind of sucked and I've had to write to the author asking for clarification (I know, it's embarassing), but still, epicness.

3/3
I can't believe I'm finished. There were so many of them, I honestly didn't believe they'd end. Now what do I do with my life?
So, this book. I honestly don't remember anything of it but the final battle (I'm sure tons of stuff happened, that's just where my main focus was). The final battle was suitable epic. I think Gawyn didn't get the credit he deserved, and I'm not fond of Galad's lack of character development. I also don't like the characters where we don't know what happened. And mostly, the Asmodean thing bugs me.
Okay, so I turned to Google and apparently it's insinuated (very, very vaguely) that Graendal killed him (although her Wiki page says it much more confidently, so perhaps I'm missing something?). I don't like that though, because why did he think she was dead? Maybe there's just things I don't remember from all those books ago. Also, of all the Forsaken to kill off randomly and permanently... I LIKED Asmodean.
Anyway, the final battle was epic. The ending ending... meh. I wish authors could just let go. And it was all so... vague. I don't really understand the ending, but maybe that's just me. I was good until the very end, though, so maybe it really just doesn't make sense.
I'm not thrilled with the choice of who lives and who dies. There's one or two good decisions, but for the most part the main characters are preserved for no particular reason. And (spoiler!) I will never, ever forgive whichever author killed off Bela. She is the backbone of the entire series. She at least deserved an epic death scene.

It's weird, but I don't really feel like ranting about it. It's over. It was awesome. I'm not sure I'll ever find the like of Wheel of Time again.

Oh, yeah, and the quotes at the end were awesome. Not because they were good (they sucked in terms of writing), but because the author played by the rules.

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Let me just say: I really liked this book. It had an overall feeling of being polished (aside from the weird rant), and ending (not the weird rant, the actual ending) was amazing. Plus, the author capitalized hell, so points all around. Actually, I think I summarized my entire review right there...

3/3
Actually, really good. My only complaint is the ending "twist"; the author gets very carried away and I think the story would have been stronger without it. Points for capitalizing Hell. The ending was great.

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I am a cover hater, but this one's actually quite beautiful.

Oh. Human voices. Actually, that makes no sense. It was better with the barcode covering it.

2.6/3
Fine. I think better than Matched. Nothing amazing about it, but it wasn't terrible, either. [And apparently that's all I had to say... and I can't think of anything else. So I guess it's utterly unremarkable.]

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Can I just rant for a moment? Yes? Good. WHAT KIND OF AUTHOR PUTS IN FIREFLY BUT DOESN'T MENTION DR. WHO, SUPERNATURAL, OR SHERLOCK (EVEN THOUGH SHE MENTIONS SHERLOCK HOLMES)??? I mean, I'm not even a TV fan, but that's just bad research. And we're going to pretend my caps lock key was stuck. It's 2 AM, okay?

Oh, and points for an author who completely gets my fascination with airplanes.

2.6/3
I'm not really into romance books unless they're cute (I hate ones that try to stick romance in as a main plot point for no reason). This one was suitably adorable, and I liked it. There were a lot of moments that really resonated with me. The ending was eye-roll-inducing, but also really sweet.2.6/3

I'm not really into romance books unless they're cute (I hate ones that try to stick romance in as a main plot point for no reason). This one was suitably adorable, and I liked it. There were a lot of moments that really resonated with me. The ending was eye-roll-inducing, but also really sweet. 

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So, yay. That's this week's four (actually, they're last weeks' four; I'm a bit behind in writing reviews). Sorry the reviews are so short, I'm not sure what happened there. I hope to get the auto-posting thing fixed soon.

Review of A Memory of Light

3/3/5 (yes, they look more like dates by the minute.)

NOTE: There will be no specific spoilers, but if you don't want to know my assumptions about what you've already guessed, don't read this. I'm told I'm better at predicting than a lot of people.

I can't believe I'm finished. There were so many of them, I honestly didn't believe they'd end. Now what do I do with my life?

So, this book. I honestly don't remember anything of it but the final battle (I'm sure tons of stuff happened, that's just where my main focus was). The final battle was suitable epic. I think Gawyn didn't get the credit he deserved, and I'm not fond of Galad's lack of character development. I also don't like the characters where we don't know what happened. And mostly, the Asmodean thing bugs me.

Okay, so I turned to Google and apparently it's insinuated (very, very vaguely) that Graendal killed him (although her Wiki page says it much more confidently, so perhaps I'm missing something?). I don't like that though, because why did he think she was dead? Maybe there's just things I don't remember from all those books ago. Also, of all the Forsaken to kill off randomly and permanently... I LIKED Asmodean.

Anyway, the final battle was epic. The ending ending... meh. I wish authors could just let go. And it was all so... vague. I don't really understand the ending, but maybe that's just me. I was good until the very end, though, so maybe it really just doesn't make sense.

I'm not thrilled with the choice of who lives and who dies. There's one or two good decisions, but for the most part the main characters are preserved for no particular reason. And (spoiler!) I will never, ever forgive whichever author killed off Bela. She is the backbone of the entire series. She at least deserved an epic death scene.

It's weird, but I don't really feel like ranting about it. It's over. It was awesome. I'm not sure I'll ever find the like of Wheel of Time again.

Oh, yeah, and the quotes at the end were awesome. Not because they were good (they sucked in terms of writing), but because the author played by the rules. At least, that's how I'm choosing to interpret them.

Review of An Ember in the Ashes

3/3
There was quite a bit in this book that was ridiculous. Their system of military training where they throw people out into the wilderness for four years and then expect to find them again (and have them be loyal). The handy unmapped catacombs every sewer leads into (funny how we never encounter any water in them). The random appearance of whatever mythical creature the author feels like. The way our main characters do pretty much nothing but stand there ogling every person of the opposite gender they come across. And, I have to admit, when the side characters all teamed up and started killing each other I started laughing (I don't know why I read books; I can't take them seriously).
But the truth was, in the end, the writing was fine (although the author's choice of "lay" instead of "lie" drove me crazy). The moments of introspection weren't quite as painful as they usually are. The plot was actually kind of enjoyable and suspenseful (although if it had ended at the end of the Trials it would have been so much better). It's not a particularly memorable book, but it was a surprisingly adequate one.

Oh, and the cover was cool:

Review of The Winner's Curse

Yes, the cover looks good... until you examine it closely.

2/3

It gets two because the writing was pretty good. I read it in a few hours, so it did keep my attention.

My problem was mainly that they were in love pretty much from page one. I like my fluff (yes, I have very low fluff standards. This just wasn't good fluff) to take a bit longer than that. I had no interest in their being together because no one was trying to keep them apart. Even when people think they are, all she gets is some cold looks at parties and a handy pamphlet on how to be more discreet.

Also, Arin was such a sweet little kid in the prequel short story. Now he's all... broody. He's just not very interesting. He gains a little personality at the end (which was the sort of fluff that should have been in the middle of the story), but it was too late for me to like him.

Kestrel was... it's not that I didn't like her (I don't really have feelings one way or the other). But she didn't change. She started the book disliking slavery but not really willing to do anything about it, and that didn't particularly change over the course of it. She was also kind of weak. Even before she let Arin completely control himself, she couldn't be bothered to yell at him for things that would have been wrong even had he been an honored guest. And, to be honest, I think she should have lost the duel. She bargained for her life, not winning. That wasn't fair to the other guy (who's a creep, but still. There's such a thing as fair play.)

Basically, the book suffers from YADNS (Young Adult Dystopian Novel Syndrome). It thinks it's a serious book, and this leads it to unfortunate choices that rather ruin the happy fluff it could have been. Pity. I probably won't continue the series, because I don't really care. 

For future reference, YA authors, here's the template:

1) Create two characters. One of them (preferably the female) should have a high up position of some kind (not one she necessarily deserves; it has to do with her parents), while the other (preferably the male) should be some sort of outlaw or in some way working against her.

2) *Optional* Have your two characters meet without knowing who the other one is.

3) Somehow, one of your characters gains power over each other.

4) Slowly, the one in power grows to sympathize with the other's cause, and they begin to fall in love.

5) Through some reversal of fortune, the power positions reverse.

6) They're so in lurve that the one now in power allows the other to escape.

7) The escapee betrays the other, but then feels bad about it and saves him/her in the nick of time. Bonus points if this method ends with the two being separated somehow.

This book was fine, except that it pretty much skipped over step 4. Tsk tsk.

Oh, yes, and the automatic posting by Goodreads seems to have failed again (I have a theory; it's probably my fault that it didn't work this time). Hopefully three copies of this review won't appear suddenly, but if they do, sorry.
And tell me if the larger font is awful. I thought it was an improvement, but then, I'm half-blind.

Review: The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



2/3
It's interesting, because I actually started reading this when I was in my Brandon Sanderson craze. My theory was I'd struggle through the Robert Jordans and it would be worth it in the end. Little did I know that I'd spend the entire book (and there are two more) mourning a man who was dead before I even heard of the book series.
I like a lot of Brandon Sanderson's work very much. He certainly did not do a bad job on these books, and it takes a brave man to take up someone else's work eleven books in. However, he is not Robert Jordan. Things did improve as the book progressed, but whether that was acclimation or something real I don't know. The characters were off, I kept second-guessing every new name (who made it up? Why does it sound weird?), and when something happened that should have been funny I couldn't laugh at it because Robert Jordan would never have written such a scene.
The book was not as bad as I thought it would be in the first two hundred pages. It was, however, just not the same, and not in a good way. I felt cheated throughout- these were characters I'd spent eleven books with, and now they were betraying me with a new author. I no longer knew what to expect or which characters I liked or disliked. Even stopping the constant worry felt like a betrayal in itself- didn't Robert Jordan deserve better than this?
And the ending... a simple move of quotation marks and it would have been fine. The fact that they were where they were made me extremely nervous as to the meaning. It seemed rather fourth-wall shattering, honestly (although I'm sure it was simply an error... here's hoping.)
All in all, not a bad effort, but I'm thinking what I never thought I would: I really want Robert Jordan back. I regret the amount of time I spent insulting his work and wishing to get to these. I only now see what the world has lost: a very driven man with brilliant world-building and realistic characters who cannot simply be replaced.
And yes, I even sort of miss the skirt-smoothing (although I'm sure that would wear off quickly with a bit of rereading.)
Oh, and kudos to whichever author made up Hinderstap. That was creepily awesome

Edit: I keep remembering things I forgot to mention. Such as Brandon Sanderson's penchant for modern language. Great snuck in there somewhere, as well as several other things that for some reaon aren't coming to mind at the moment. It drove me crazy.


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