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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Beasts Made of Night in Books
Apr 19, 2018
Terrible characters (3 more)
Lack of explanation of terms
Stupid cliffhanger
Confusing geography
So this Nigerian-influenced fantasy made enough of a splash when it was released in October that I JUST got it in my hands from the library. That long wait....was not actually justified, sadly. The cover is GORGEOUS and the concept is really, really cool - the execution is lacking. I can tell that the author had the world pretty fleshed out in his mind, from the geography to the vocabulary - but he didn't actually pass that knowledge on to the reader. Kos is a walled city, but I'm not sure whether the Palace is within the walls or not? In one scene our protagonist LEAPS out of the castle and runs back the city - but in another scene he mentions that looking out the castle wall, Kos fits behind his fingernail. Kos is made up of several neighborhood plus a market - it's not small. So either his fingernail is HUGE or Kos is a pretty decent distance away. But it's written as if it only takes him about ten minutes to run there? Not to mention that he cracked a rib in the room that he leaped from (which is never mentioned again).
Oh and he winds up landing in an ivy maze out of nowhere - he couldn't see it from the palace? Let's see....the King regularly bombards neighborhoods with catapults in what's called a "baptism" but the people haven't revolted against this, for some reason. They talk about something called a "kanselo" but never define it. I -think- it's like an organized group or coalition, but I'm really not entirely sure.
The male protagonist treats every woman his age as a potential love interest, debating whether to give them his heart-stone, or whether people will think he's already given one girl or another his heart-stone - but never stops to ask if the girls are interested in HIM that way. Because of COURSE they would be, right? He's the Sky-Fist! The Lightbringer! The one whose tattoos never fade! (Eating sin-beasts causes a black tattoo to appear on your skin - on most sin-eaters these fade eventually.) Also he's just DUMB. He recalls that the sin-eater who ate his mother's sin had a certain tattoo, and when he runs across her years later, it takes him three or four encounters before realizing it's the same sin-eater. (The tattoo is a spider. Covering her FACE. It hasn't faded.) He makes stupid decisions - after nightmares of one love-interest being attacked by sin-beasts, he LEAVES HER SURROUNDED BY THEM to go run out into the city. He has at least FIVE love interests in this book. And only ONE of them seems interested in him in return.
I really wanted to like this book. The concept of sin-eating is great. But the main character and all the one-dimensional characters that surrounded him, along with the confusing geography, just turned me off. And I'm not even getting into the "ending." Yeah. Definitely throwing quotes on that because that was not an ending. The book just stops.
Skip this. It was a terrible book wrapped in a deceptively pretty package.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
Oh and he winds up landing in an ivy maze out of nowhere - he couldn't see it from the palace? Let's see....the King regularly bombards neighborhoods with catapults in what's called a "baptism" but the people haven't revolted against this, for some reason. They talk about something called a "kanselo" but never define it. I -think- it's like an organized group or coalition, but I'm really not entirely sure.
The male protagonist treats every woman his age as a potential love interest, debating whether to give them his heart-stone, or whether people will think he's already given one girl or another his heart-stone - but never stops to ask if the girls are interested in HIM that way. Because of COURSE they would be, right? He's the Sky-Fist! The Lightbringer! The one whose tattoos never fade! (Eating sin-beasts causes a black tattoo to appear on your skin - on most sin-eaters these fade eventually.) Also he's just DUMB. He recalls that the sin-eater who ate his mother's sin had a certain tattoo, and when he runs across her years later, it takes him three or four encounters before realizing it's the same sin-eater. (The tattoo is a spider. Covering her FACE. It hasn't faded.) He makes stupid decisions - after nightmares of one love-interest being attacked by sin-beasts, he LEAVES HER SURROUNDED BY THEM to go run out into the city. He has at least FIVE love interests in this book. And only ONE of them seems interested in him in return.
I really wanted to like this book. The concept of sin-eating is great. But the main character and all the one-dimensional characters that surrounded him, along with the confusing geography, just turned me off. And I'm not even getting into the "ending." Yeah. Definitely throwing quotes on that because that was not an ending. The book just stops.
Skip this. It was a terrible book wrapped in a deceptively pretty package.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
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Peter Shephard (2822 KP) rated Game Of Thrones - Season 8 in TV
Jun 1, 2019
Mixed ending to the epic
Contains spoilers, click to show
I enjoyed Season 8.
It was a good distance away from the best seasons. I cant actually think of a season I liked less, but it wasnt a BAD season.
The set piece battles were visually amazing (even if the tactics were a bit suspect...), the story was "wrapped up" satisfactorily. It would have benefitted massively from an extra 1 or 2 episodes, even if just to get a sense of the scale of the undertaking - remember in Season 1 it took a month to travel from Kings Landing to Winterfell? Well apart from a fade-to-black and a comment about "three weeks" in the final episode, all the events could have been taking place in neighbouring cities. That's something which S7 and S8 have been guilty of, actually - the sense of scale was horribly lost (a quick marathon to the Wall, warp-speed ravens to Dragonstone, and a dragon flight back up, all within about 12h...?). It was also never explained how so many Dothraki and Unsullied survived the Battle of Winterfell - I have heard people saying that there was a comment that "only half of our forces are at Winterfell; the rest are at Dragonstone" but I've rewatched it and I must have missed it every time. Literally a 10 second clip would have made it all much more acceptable.
It is really unfortunate that S8 (and S7) felt rushed. I fully expect there to be a "viewers cut" on YouTube at some point which reuses scenes from other seasons to make it feel right.
I did enjoy it though.
It was a good distance away from the best seasons. I cant actually think of a season I liked less, but it wasnt a BAD season.
The set piece battles were visually amazing (even if the tactics were a bit suspect...), the story was "wrapped up" satisfactorily. It would have benefitted massively from an extra 1 or 2 episodes, even if just to get a sense of the scale of the undertaking - remember in Season 1 it took a month to travel from Kings Landing to Winterfell? Well apart from a fade-to-black and a comment about "three weeks" in the final episode, all the events could have been taking place in neighbouring cities. That's something which S7 and S8 have been guilty of, actually - the sense of scale was horribly lost (a quick marathon to the Wall, warp-speed ravens to Dragonstone, and a dragon flight back up, all within about 12h...?). It was also never explained how so many Dothraki and Unsullied survived the Battle of Winterfell - I have heard people saying that there was a comment that "only half of our forces are at Winterfell; the rest are at Dragonstone" but I've rewatched it and I must have missed it every time. Literally a 10 second clip would have made it all much more acceptable.
It is really unfortunate that S8 (and S7) felt rushed. I fully expect there to be a "viewers cut" on YouTube at some point which reuses scenes from other seasons to make it feel right.
I did enjoy it though.
ArecRain (8 KP) rated Highlander Redeemed (Guardians of the Targe, #3) in Books
Jan 18, 2018
This is the third in the series, and it definitely shows. I did not know that it was part of a series until I started reading it, but I wish I had. While it is not necessary to read the first two to understand or enjoy Highlander Redeemed, I found myself wondering more often than not about what I had missed out on.
I wish I could find at least one negative comment to make about this novel to balance out all the good I can say, but I honestly cannot. It is your typical Scottish historical romance where the couple are facing the threat of the English. It had so much character, however, that it did not just fade into the background once I finished it with all the previous ones I have read. I also appreciate that the author actually has some background in Scottish heritage instead of just researching it. It made it much more authentic.
Mainly, however, I loved watching the couple grow both as a couple and as individuals. At first, Scotia irritated me with her behavior and thoughts, but I believe that was the point. To watch her grow and mature was both satisfying and relieving. She was believable as person instead of a made up character.
Overall, Highlander Redeemed is one of the best Scottish historical romances I have read as well as a coming of age story. I fell in love with the characters and became invested in their growth and story. Not only that, but the ending left me with warm satisfied feeling. Now, I am definitely planning on picking up copies of the first two.
I wish I could find at least one negative comment to make about this novel to balance out all the good I can say, but I honestly cannot. It is your typical Scottish historical romance where the couple are facing the threat of the English. It had so much character, however, that it did not just fade into the background once I finished it with all the previous ones I have read. I also appreciate that the author actually has some background in Scottish heritage instead of just researching it. It made it much more authentic.
Mainly, however, I loved watching the couple grow both as a couple and as individuals. At first, Scotia irritated me with her behavior and thoughts, but I believe that was the point. To watch her grow and mature was both satisfying and relieving. She was believable as person instead of a made up character.
Overall, Highlander Redeemed is one of the best Scottish historical romances I have read as well as a coming of age story. I fell in love with the characters and became invested in their growth and story. Not only that, but the ending left me with warm satisfied feeling. Now, I am definitely planning on picking up copies of the first two.