Search

Search only in certain items:

    CinemaFX for Video

    CinemaFX for Video

    Photo & Video and Utilities

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    55 effects - Most comprehensive video FX app! ✩ New: great improvement of rendering speed ✩ ✩...

    GazziliScience

    GazziliScience

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    --GazziliScience has arrived! The GazziliWorld approach to fusing learning and fun for Preschoolers...

    Dr. Panda Handyman

    Dr. Panda Handyman

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    It’s time for some home improvement in Dr. Panda’s Handyman! Hammers, wrenches, pliers and more...

    Constant Therapy

    Constant Therapy

    Medical and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Constant Therapy is an award winning cognitive and speech therapy app for people recovering from...

    Language Therapy 4-in-1

    Language Therapy 4-in-1

    Medical and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Harness the power of a scientifically proven 4-in-1 speech therapy app that boosts reading, writing,...

The Wheel of Osheim
The Wheel of Osheim
Mark Lawrence | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
The conclusion of the Red Queen's War trilogy is a significant improvement over the previous book, The Liar's Key. Though again this is a book of two halves: the first half following Jalan as he travels home from the Afriquan desert and is tasked with defending his home city from invasion; the second half sees him meet up with old friends and travel back to the eponymous Wheel to try and halt mankind's destruction and stop "the wheel" from turning.
I loved the first half of this book - Jalan is a much easier character to like/put up with on his own, and the city defence against siege was some of the most enjoyable of Lawrence's work, for me.
The second half was a definite nose-dive. Jalan goes back to being an insufferable coward (and given his companions say and do very little this makes these scenes quite a trudge). And it seems as if this was the chance to suddenly explain the point of the earlier "companion" Broken Empire trilogy and cram in loads of science and philosophy. Suddenly we went from knowing next to nothing but occasional hints to being repeatedly told what had happened 1100 years ago and what is still happening. And then in the last few pages, all back to normal, having no idea what was real or not.
At the end of The Liar's Key, I had such anticipation for this book: Jalan and Snorri entering Hell to try and bring back Snorri's family. This became such a massive anti-climax - the whole journey through Hell was covered in about 20 pages total and nothing of any import happened at all. It was a complete let-down.
One of the standout aspects of The Broken Empire trilogy was how two different timelines were maintained and meshed together beautifully at the perfect pace. Here we have an element of that, but Lawrence seems to feel the need to have a reason for Jalan to be experiencing the other timeline (in Liar's Key is was due to a magic spell which had unexpected recurring side-effects, here it is either through having flashbacks at inappropriate times or being told a story by Snorri) - it just totally jars when this suddenly has to happen.
The conclusion of the book I found very unsatisfying - too many key events/characters/plot points were suddenly thrown into one room fighting for attention and resolution - and what were meant to be epic foes to be bested were defeated fairly easily. And then the actual climax - a complete load of philosophical nonsense completely unravelling everything (not in a "woah, that blew my mind" way, more of a "well, what was the point then and what about ... ").
Overall a mostly great book but with some downright annoying aspects and a deeply unsatisfactory ending.