Tag: Fantasy Book Reviews

“Middlegame” By Seanan McGuire Review

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Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet. Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

I had high expectations for this book because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. But after trying to read it I quickly DNF-ed this book because it was very boring. But let me explain what I mean.

The plot here was all over the place, we follow way too many characters here and its very hard to get track of everyone. From the moment I started reading this book to the moment I DNF-ed I was confused all the time.

The characters here were very weak, and I just couldn’t find the strength in me to care about them or form any thoughts about them. Because my brain refused to give the characters in this book any brainpower. The characters in this book are very silly which makes this book feel like a book for 10 years old. The way the characters talked with each other in this book really made me cringe AF, because it was like the author was trying to make the characters as cartoon-ish as possible and she succeeded but in a very negative way.

When you read the summary of this book then the premise of it sounds very interesting but the moment you start reading this book you realized that the plot is very nonsensical. The entire plot just seems like it was written by second or third graders trying to write a book for themselves.

The writing style was very bad it felt like again second or third graders have written this book. The writing style gets from being very advanced to being way too simple and again to being very advanced. It was like the author couldn’t decide which writing style she wanted to use in this book, so she just went with multiple. 

I DNF-ed this book after having read around 100 pages of this book, just because this entire book was way to bad for me to handle reading the entire book. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“The Hobbit” By J.R.R. Tolkien Review

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In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

I finally got to read this book and I cant tell you how happy I am that I finally read it.

The plot in this book is very very good. And at the same time its very unique. The fact that it was written in the late 1930s and is still relevant in the 2020s really proves how good of writer J.R.R Tolkien really was.

The moment I started reading this book, I was clued to this book but at times I needed to take few days break from this book to process properly what had happened in this book so that I could enjoy this book better.

The plot in this book makes you feel like you are there in the plot and part of everything which is happening in this book. Which really surprised me because I wasn’t expecting this to happen.

There is a lot of action in this book, there are a lot of things going on which will make you sit at the edge of your sit because you get so interested in what is currently happening in this book. 

This book gives you like the huge feeling of connectedness, which I really loved about this book and give this book extra points for.

The characters in this book were very very good, and I loved each and all of the characters in this book. It was like every single character in this book was a really human being with his / hers own thoughts, feelings and opinions which really made me love this book even more.

Bilbo’s adventures in this book very very interesting, enjoyable, at times funny and very adventurous which really gave this book a place in my brain and heart to live forever rent free.

The writing style here is incredible, even thou there is a lot of old English in this book or at least in my copy of this book. But for me the old English makes this book even better and even more real.

As I was reading this book I felt like going back to childhood and reading “A Song Of Ice And Fire” for the first time. Where you didn’t care about anything else but to read the book. 

My only issue with this book is that it is too short, I really wish that this book would have been longer than it was. Because I desperately didn’t want this book to end in a way. 

If you want to get into fantasy then this book (and this series) is the best starting point you can get. Because its the OG fantasy, which really as times continues it gets more and more fans as it should do.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“Assassin’s Apprentice” By Robin Hobb Review

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In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma. Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

Ive been wanting to get into this series for a while now because ive heard so much good about it, and even my favorite author of all time, George R R Martin have recommended this series and this author on several occasions during interviews. So of course I needed to get into this series at some point. And this year is the time for it.

The plot in this book was very good, but on occasions I found myself bored because at moments the plot would stretch for far too long on events or descriptions which in the end didn’t have anything to say in the major picture. 

Even thou the plot has boring and uninteresting parts here and there, the bigger picture of the plot it is still very good. And solely from this book alone I think I found a new author to add to my list of favorite authors, which hasn’t seen much change for at least 2 years.

The characters in this book were very good, which really surprised me a lot because I wasn’t expecting such good characters from an so underrated author as Robin Hobb. Every characters in this book had all unique personalities and something which made them unique in their own way. 

I personnel didn’t like a lot of characters in this book, and the beginning I didn’t even like the main character, but the more and more I read, the more and more Ive grown to like the main character. He might be a hard character to like at times, but still he is a good character in my opinion.

The ending was very good, because thats where the most interesting part came into the play, and it sort of doesn’t leave us with a cliffhanger but at the same time it does. Which is a really odd thing, but a thing which I liked very much.

The writing style here, was very good because it was like the author knew what words to use in this book, to fully grab my attention and to not let it go even through the parts which I found boring and / or uninteresting. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Peter Pan” By J.M. Barrie Review

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Peter Pan, the mischievous boy who refuses to grow up, lands in the Darling’s proper middle-class home to look for his shadow. He befriends Wendy, John and Michael and teaches them to fly (with a little help from fairy dust). He and Tinker Bell whisk them off to Never-land where they encounter the Red Indians, the Little Lost Boys, pirates and the dastardly Captain Hook.

I need to admit that I never was fairytale child when I was a kid, so picking up this book as an adult might not have been the best choice. Which might be the reason why I gave this book so low rating.

This book didn’t have a huge appeal to me like some other classic books for children as “the wonderful wizard of oz”, but Im glad that I finally read it because this book has been laying on my TBR for couple of years now.

The characters here was on the bad side if you ask me. Wendy was very annoying and Peter here was really a shallow character. When it comes tot the side characters in this book they were even worse than Wendy and Peter. All of the side characters were way to similar to each other and you couldn’t set them apart and say who is who here because they felt like the same character.

There are times where I had to push myself through this book, because I just couldn’t get into the plot. 

For me personally this book was more on the uninteresting because as said before I was never a fairy tale person.

This book is best suited for young children, so if you have a child who likes to read or you are trying to make your child pick up reading then this book is a good choice.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Last Wish” By Andrzej Sapkowski Book Review

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Geralt the Witcher—revered and hated—is a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.  But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good… and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Its important to mention before we start this review that this book isn’t the first book published in The Witcher series, but this book is the one to start this The Witcher book series with.

This book isn’t a typical novel because it is a collection of 6 short stories which introduces you as a reader to the world in the series and to various characters in the universe which Geralt have or had some kind of relationship with at some point through out the life span of the book series. 

I personally am not a fan of a book which is basically a collection of short stories like this book is. Which may explain why I give this one the rating I give. 

The writing style is pretty okay but there are times where the writing goes down hill for awhile. As well as there are times when the writing style feels like a cross between Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire Series.

I had high expectations for this book because of the bad as games. But unfortunately this book didn’t leave up to my expectations. 

However this book needs to get points for the fun fairytale vibe which it has. But also for the fun way the author have mixed seriousness and humor in this book.

The characters are pretty okay. There are some good characters and there are some annoying characters. Which you can pretty much expect from a book series. 

If you want me to be honest with you then you got to know that this book is more or less a load of dated,  men-centered together with male-gazey nonsense mixed together with dubious logic and no understanding of morality or human nature.

Yeah the book the book didn’t go well with me. 

There were times when you got the vibe that the author mostly had no idea what he is talking about, especially when it came to women being involved.

The world which we get in this book is incredible and I would love to know more about it and get some different stories out of it. But this book really doesn’t use the potential of the characters nor the world. 

I need also give this book points for the cool and different approach to high fantasy which is very distinct from Tolkien books and stories. 

I need to mention that there were some generic epic fantasy issues especially when it comes to mundane sexism. But of course I cant mention them because this is a spoiler free review.

When it comes to the dialogues in this book. The dialogue were pretty uneven kindly said. There were times where the dialogues had probably way too much exposition and varied very wildly in tone to each other.

The whole mythology behind this book was pretty impressing when it comes to all the things which wasn’t so great in this book.

I give this book 3 / 5

“Fairy Tale” By Stephen King Review

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Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

This book was for sure a very unique one. Because I wasn’t expecting the master of horror to get into fantasy but with this book he of course did.

The beginning of this book started really big and had big Psyho vibes. Which really made the trick for me to get me hocked. The beginning had strange accident,  mysterious old house, weird noises coming from the shed, an old dog and a teenager. 

The beginning had huge suspense in it, and from it alone I was expecting Pet cemetery 2 in a way. But of course it wasn’t it.  

Even thou it started really hot and big, the book went downhill from that point in my opinion. As you continue reading this book it will turn into a teenager’s adventure. Which wasn’t bad but it wasn’t that original. In a way this book really disappointed me in a way because I was expecting something more from Stephen King.

Charlie and Mr. Bowditch were good characters even thou I wasn’t the biggest fan of them. But the rest of the characters in this book were meh to be fully honest here. I personal remembered the rest of the characters as “Deaf-one”, “Blind-one” etc. Even thou they had names as you expect, I didn’t bother to remember their names because I found them boring and uninteresting. 

To be fully honest my favourite character in this book is Radar which is the old dog in this book. 

Even thou this book is an enjoyable read, it is at least 150 pages too long in my opinion. Because after you read the half of this book, it being to drag for far too long.

The writing style in this book was very good at the beginning but as the book continues the writing style in a way goes slowly downhill which really disappointed me. But I haven’t noticed it until I finished the book.

The ending was actually good, I didn’t expect it being so good because of 2 / 3 of this book being boring and somehow uninteresting for me. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Season of Storms” By Andrzej Sapkowski Review

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Geralt of Rivia. A witcher whose mission is to protect ordinary people from the monsters created with magic. A mutant who has the task of killing unnatural beings. He uses a magical sign, potions and the pride of every witcher — two swords, steel and silver. But what would happen if Geralt lost his weapons? In this standalone novel, Geralt fights, travels and loves again, Dandelion sings and flies from trouble to trouble, sorcerers are scheming and across the whole world clouds are gathering – the season of storms is coming.

This book is the best book in the whole Witcher series. There is a lot of action as in the first book in this series and we get the biggest nostalgia to the first book in this series.

The plot in this book is amazing. We get close-up fights with monsters, we get court conspires, insane wizards and plenty of sarcasm and irony which is what got me to be so big fan of the Witcher book series. 

This book gives us us insight into various holes in the Witcher lore which the previous books in the series left open.

However this book is more of a standalone novel in the Witcher series than a continuation of the Witcher series. But I still loved this book a lot. 

I personally think that this book is the best option to end the Witcher series with, since it gives us what the first book in this series gave us and it really is an amazing end point to the Witcher series. 

Geralt is so amazing main character and this book really proves why. It really shows that he is a good guy however his decisions might not always be the best. 

The writing style here is amazing as well. If you read the first Witcher book and you read this book. It really shows how much the author have grown in his writing skills since the first book. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“Lady of the Lake” By Andrzej Sapkowski Review

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After walking through the portal in the Tower of Swallows while narrowly escaping death, Ciri finds herself in a completely different world… an Elven world. She is trapped with no way out. Time does not seem to exist and there are no obvious borders or portals to cross back into her home world. But this is Ciri, the child of prophecy, and she will not be defeated. She knows she must escape to finally rejoin the Witcher, Geralt, and his companions – and also to try to conquer her worst nightmare. Leo Bonhart, the man who chased, wounded and tortured Ciri, is still on her trail. And the world is still at war.

This book is the longest book in the Witcher series. But it really is worth the effort and the time to read it. 

The plot here was amazing, and it kept you on the edge from page 1 to the last page. There was a lot of action and there is a lot of tension happening in this book. Which in my opinion only makes this book better and more fun to read.

This book has over 500 pages, but it truly is an quick read since this book is a page turner. And the time goes fast by when you get sucked into the world of Witcher which is one of the best fantasy worlds to be ever written.

In this book we also get the gran finally of the Witcher series. Which really is a bitter sweet experience since this book is amazing but the fact that the series ends is very sad. However the ending should have been better, it really is a disappointment in a way after spending time reading all the books in this series. 

The writing style in this book is amazing, just as in the rest of this series. There is something very unique and charismatic to the writing style of Andrzej Sapkowski which really makes this series even better.

The characters in this book are amazing. They all had huge character developments from the first book and they really become as your friends when you read all the books and you come to this book.

The beginning was slow in a way, but the more you read the more the action grew in this book which was really amazing to see happen in this last book of the series.

The action here was okay in a way. We don’t get the same action as we got in the first book when the Geralt were fighting monsters and saving people. Which disappointed me in a way, but I still enjoyed the action in this book since it was somehow different than the first book. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“The Tower of the Swallow” By Andrzej Sapkowski Review

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The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing. Geralt, the Witcher, has assembled a group of allies determined to rescue her. Both sides of the war have sent brutal mercenaries to hunt her down. Her crimes have made her famous. There is only one place left to run. The tower of the swallow is waiting.

To be fully honest here, in my opinion this book was the best book in this series so far but I still have 2 more books in this series to read so a lot can happen.

The plot here was very slow but at the same time very interesting. There isn’t a lot of adventure or sword fights in this book but it still finds a way to keep us as readers engaged in it and find it interesting.

The characters here are just wow. You can really see the character development and the character change which happened to all characters between this book and the previous book before this one. We also get to know what happened to Ciri between the actions of the previous books and this one. Which in my opinion only adds more to this book and the character itself.

However surprisingly we get every little of Yenefer. Which I personally find to enjoy because I am not a fan of her. But I came to like her in this book which a big surprise to me.

The plot in this book is really about family, friendship, love and loyalty which is a huge surprised when it comes to a Witcher book but at the same time also a very positive surprise. 

The writing style here somehow gets better than from the previous book. I don’t know how it happened but it did and I love to see Andrzej Sapkowski become better author and to see Witcher series becoming better.

The ending in this book is a really big cliff-hanger and the moment I finished this book I couldn’t stop myself from immediately start on the next book in this series to find out what happens next.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Fire & Blood” By George R.R. Martin Review

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Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

This book is amazing. It was one of the best books I’ve read this year so far at least. 

The art in this book is stunning and it really adds more to this book. They were really good and amazing adds to the book.

This book is in another book from the A Song Of Ice And Fire series but this is book happens 300 ish years before the first book in the main series which means that it is sort of the backstory to the whole series.

I personally had an amazing time reading this book, but there were couple of moments were I thought that they were unnecessary. The first half of this book is very fast and it only gives us couple of sentences about previous kings and other Targaryens. Which really annoyed me because I wish that we could get more of these previous Targaryens before the main characters in the House Of The Dragon series.

The characters in this book are amazing, and they really felt like real life human beings rather than a fantasy book characters. Most of the characters in this book were so amazing that I just can’t explain. There were some characters were I felt were super flat and boring in a way. 

The plot in this book is amazing. There is so much action here, there are deaths (as you expect from George R.R Martin), there are a lot of family and politics drama and so much more. 

The writing style here is super amazing, it really is on level with the rest of books in the A Song Of Ice And Fire series. And really shows that A Song Of Ice And Fire series might be one of the best book series ever and that George R.R. Martin might be one of the best authors to ever live. 

This book is super interesting, enjoyable, fun and it really blows you off to another universe. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5