Review: The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There were more worldbuilding holes than I noticed the first time around, but still an excellent book. I knew where all the jokes were and I still laughed out loud.

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Review: The Ring of Solomon

The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unfortunately very meh on rereading. I've moved on to the original trilogy and am relieved to find that's still excellent. It's weird; you'd think the prequel would have better world-building and a more sensible magic system than the original. I'm honestly wondering if Stroud wrote it. It feels like a shallow reflection of the original trilogy.

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Review: Travesties

Travesties by Tom Stoppard
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Read for school, didn't understand a word, thankfully don't have to write an essay.
Okay, so I understood enough to get what Stoppard is getting at. And I can see that for a history nerd, a good performance of this play would be hilarious. But it's not my thing at all.

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Review: Who We Were Before

Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Very meh.
Also she never canceled her credit cards.

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Review: One

One by Sarah Crossan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Extremely well-written, a very quick read, touching and tragic despite the predictability.

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Review: The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



There is hope for you yet, epic fantasy.
I read this and its sequel and couldn't put either of them down. I was very disappointed to learn that the third book doesn't exist yet and probably won't for a while.

This is me, so I must complain that the last scene really belonged in the second book instead (the scene before it had me completely satisfied about the ending... adding another scene was disorienting rather than shocking).

This deserved a much longer, more detailed review. Perhaps later.

Reread October 2016:
I own Way of Kings as an ebook, which combined happily this year with a new commute and Kindle. This book lasted me more than a month of commuting both ways every day, which I'm going to interpret as a tribute to its length rather than my reading speed.
I'm sad to say that it wasn't nearly as good the second time. It makes me nervous to reread Mistborn, which was next on my commute list. It wasn't bad, exactly, just not awe-inspiring like it was the first time. It also made me realize that most of my favorite scenes are in fact from Words of Radiance, which makes me sad since I don't own that one on Kindle and my library doesn't offer it.
Honestly, this time around it was fairly forgettable. Oh well. Still excited for the third book.

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Review: The Creeping Shadow

The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

They're still good, but I really wish Stroud would focus on the ghostbusting instead of creating grand overarching plot. He really writes an excellent creepy ghost scene... overarching plot, meh. I think this book would have been much improved by using Guppy as the main villain.

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