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The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2)
The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2)
Ken Liu | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am incredibly impressed with the amount of research that must have gone into this book, for politics, military strategy, engineering, physics, and more. That being said, to me the most important thing is characters and I think they fell a little short on this one. Parts of the plot were a little confusing and hard to follow as well. Jia's struggle for power/efforts to unite the throne seemed silly and it was difficult to see the political accumen involved. I was also surprised at how cold and calculating she became. The plot started off rather slow and seemed to end too soon with a lot happening far too quickly at the end. Ultimately this book read more like the first in a series with The Grace of Kings as a prequel. Nevertheless, I still admire the work that went into this book and the brilliance behind the ideas.
  
TS
The Star Wars
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Based on George Lucas' original rough-draft for 'Star Wars', this is an interesting read not so much for the (somewhat disconnected) story, but to see how the movies grew out of the original rough draft: this is very different from those movie(s), albeit with some of the characters and place names still showing up but in a different manner - most noticeable, perhaps, in the characters of Han Solo and Darth Vader (and 'May the Force of Others be with you' just doesn't sound right, does it?).

Having read this, it's also now VERY clear that Lucas was to re-use elements of his original rough draft in the Prequel trilogy, particularly in the whole Princess-in-hiding section(s) that are included in both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

The art is impressive, but the dialogue/story? Not so much.
  
Grim Inception (A Grim Trilogy #0.5)
Grim Inception (A Grim Trilogy #0.5)
Jennifer Reinfried | 2020 | Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The description of this short story is quite self explanatory. It tells a story of a lawyer Henry, who works for Russian mafia’s head, Vance. During one of the meetings with another mafia family, Henry’s friend Julie, gets killed. He supposed to take care and protect Julie, but he failed, and he wants revenge on the people who have done it.

This short story introduces some of the characters, who will be in the next part of the book. They all are cruel and vicious. It does explain why the story of Grim began, but doesn’t explain the story of the Grim itself. I would’ve liked to know the story of the Grim, how he was born, how he became Grim, as a prequel. And yes, the story told could’ve been as the follow up. But I think author left the juicy bits of the Grim for later…