Review: The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've seen a lot of conflicting responses to this book in the time since it came out, and even before that. A lot of people saying it's too similar to Six of Crows, or that it's got too much of an overwrought writing style, that sort of thing. Well, I'll concede on the first point only because, frankly, SoC was so big that it practically defined the YA fantasy heist story, and while this book isn't as much about the heist, it's also got a lot of what helped define SoC as the classic it was: namely, a beautifully complex magic system and a wonderfully inclusive ensemble cast. It also has this much else in common with SoC - it's marketed as YA but would make much more sense as an NA book. Mostly because Séverin, for one, comes off a little too mature and businesslike to be a teenager...but I digress.

Review: Undying

Undying by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is supposed to be the end of the series? Duology AGAIN? Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...

...but hey, after the first book dazzled me so much, I'm not surprised that this one caps off the story in high action, high romance, and high fashion.



What he said.

Review: Slayer

Slayer by Kiersten White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been waiting for this book pretty eagerly for a while, it being a spinoff-slash-sequel to one of my all-time favorite series. And it's good to know that like many in the YA community, Kiersten White is a fan too, and it shows in her work. That said, though, I read this book and couldn't help but feel a certain sense of disappointment, which I think stems from the fact that it's a Kiersten White book and, for some reason, she's always been one of those authors I'm not super able to get into, for whatever reason.

Review: The Storm Crow

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trigger warnings for this book: depression, self-harm, colonial invasion.

Harry found this ARC at work and saved it for me, believing it to properly be my style. And for that, I thank him. I admit, the comps written on the back don't inspire me with a lot of confidence, because I'm not a fan of Eragon or of And I Darken. But I have a comp in mind from reading this, a comp that I think works so much better: The Dragon Prince, but with magical, elemental crows in a very expansive and complex system, one of the more unique ones I've yet seen in fantasy.

Review: King of Scars

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR PREVIOUS GRISHAVERSE NOVELS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

I managed to forget Nikolai for the most part after reading the Grisha Trilogy for the first time...but after rereading all those original books, I remember and love him a lot more.

Now I've finally read the first in his duology - well, it's a little misleading to simply refer to it as the Nikolai Duology as GR has been doing. The King of Scars Duology sounds more accurate, not unlike the Six of Crows duology - which, well, it's not the Kaz Brekker Duology for a reason. Maybe it's a little less ensemble in its casting than Six of Crows, but the fact that we get three main POV characters spotlit in the blurb - Nikolai, of course, as well as Zoya and Nina, returning from SoC and Crooked Kingdom - means this really isn't just Nikolai's series, not by a long shot. Nikolai's story does, however, really form the core of the book, as he's struggling to balance the day-to-day of being Ravka's dashing new king with the night-to-night of a curse of a pretty lycanthropic nature, courtesy of that worst of the worst hacky-sack villains of the YA world whose name isn't Umbridge, the Commandant, or Maven Calore: the Darkling.

Review: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one's a strange one to rate. It took me a long time to read, and it had a lot of good points, but also a lot of negative aspects too. All in all, I'll give it a perfectly middling rating, but I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the whole "Field Guide" aspect going on, it lent a pretty snarky style to the whole story. Unfortunately, that snark was somewhat undercut by the fact that, being told in third-person POV, it was therefore a lot harder for me to connect to Norris as a narrator and protagonist.

Review: Oathbringer

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book of Sanderson's magnum opus - yes, I officially consider The Stormlight Archive to be Sanderson's magnum opus simply based on its sheer scale so far outclassing everything else he's ever written - is one of the biggest and most jam-packed books I've ever read. So big, in fact, I heard that Tor had to contract a whole different bindery to get it made. But all 1200+ pages of this brick are worth the read, because it feels like such a slow-mo explosion of awesome. And I mean "awesome" in both the modern and the old-fashioned senses, because as we get more acquainted with the Shards and Heralds and the great social conflicts of Roshar, it really shows just how much Sanderson's imagination operates on a godlike level. Not for nothing is his Cosmere super-influencing the screenwriting projects I'm working on with my buddy Koda! But seriously, this book is such an enormously rewarding one to read, and it's a good thing I read it again because I'm going to want to remember it all before the fourth book (tentative working title: The Rhythm of War) drops next year.

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Review: Crucible

Crucible by James Rollins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Last year, James Rollins hit another high-water mark with the thirteenth Sigma Force novel, The Demon Crown - an apt title for a scary-as-hell thriller. Could he, with the fourteenth in the series, come close to matching that scare factor? Why yes, he could, and he has. Crucible is set at Christmastime, but has the chills of an entire October's worth of Halloween movie marathons on AMC. It brings us a dreadful group of extremists who prove themselves the product of the Spanish Inquisition's wildest dreams, stopping at nothing to terrorize the world - and, for extra timeliness, they've got a way of going all-out as they target women. Some of whom are ready to change the world for the better, and some of whom have already changed the world for the better as members of Sigma Force. And how else could we make this modern-day Inquisition vs. the witches tale uniquely Rollins? The inclusion of a new AI, potentially ready to turn against us all as is the greatest fear of many a futurist or genre enthusiast. The story reminds me a lot of Dan Brown's Origin on a couple of levels, but being Rollins, Crucible is a uniquely intense beast, ready to continue its predecessor's trend of keeping things as personal as it gets for our heroes of Sigma Force. And with a lot of neat little touches - calling back to Map of Bones with the return of the Thomas Church and its symbology, teaching a little bit of the Galician language (including a unique curse that I want to add to my repertoire at all times), and some unsettling insight into the POV of Eve, the AI at the center of this plot - it's a stellar reminder of all that I love about the Sigma Force series. And why I'm tempted to write an entire TV series adaptation's worth of teleplays on spec alongside my own original screenwriting work.

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Four Years Of Blogging, Etc.

This Feb. 10th marks the fourth anniversary of this blog, and I'm almost not sure I'm going to do another one of these blog posts. I mean, I'm typing this one up, and putting it up for all the world to see, to celebrate the day I founded Reader, Writer, Fanboy. Aka the day when Sony booted Andrew Garfield's prettyboy ass to the curb, a day I only look back on because it inspired me to rant at length about why that was a terrible idea. Naturally, Tom Holland's taken the mantle and run with it like it's a pair of scissors, but I'm still forever salty that Garfield didn't - and still doesn't - get the respect he deserves.

Review: Runebreaker

Runebreaker by Alex R. Kahler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, at least Kahler's author's note at the end of the book directly addresses one thing that bothered me about reading this one: how bloody unlikable our protagonist Aidan is. Nowhere near as emotionally open as Tenn, or as loving, Aidan - likely because he's open to Fire instead of Water - is self-absorbed, destructive, and manages to be even more susceptible to the sinister machinations of a certain incubus. And he has a way of basically burning almost every bridge that he crosses, losing tons of friends and lovers in the process. But then when he's really in over his head, it shows, and that's when I can't help but sympathize with him. And luckily, this isn't the end of the road for this series yet, I'd hope - because the ending of this book promises, at long last, a combination and possibly conclusion of the stories begun in this book and in Runebinder. Bring it on, Kahler!

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