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Saturday, April 30, 2016

The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan

The Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time, #8)The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Previous review from June 2010.

April 2016: I made it through this one again. As is the trend on my latest journey through this series, it was a little better than I remember. That is about all I've got. The story grows long and the characters are frustrating. Are that many people that thick-headed? Rand is an emotional wreck that defies his upbringing as a level-headed farm boy. Egwene is just as bad. Jordan gave these characters backstory, and to me he trashes it with their behavior in these books. It seems that he has them acting in certain ways that perpetuate his plot line rather than keeping them true to who they are. It is either that, or he is a true master and has tricked me into strong feelings about his characters but it is all going to be justified in the end. I'm doubtful about that at this point, but it is possible. So I'm giving it 2.56 stars, which rounds up to 3...


Sunday, April 10, 2016

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

Calamity (Reckoners, #3)Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I will be brief. The winner in Calamity, was... well, the identity of Calamity. That was a great twist (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here.) I had several theories about how the books would culminate, and they were all wrong, and I honestly prefer it that way. I WANT the author to be one step ahead of me as the reader.

On the flip side, I think that Megan's powers were kind of muddled. I mean, in hindsight, I think I see where he was going with the whole alternate dimension thing, but as with time travel, I think it brings up more questions than it answers. Through this book David builds an affinity with one such dimension, but what of the others? Is there a true dimension? Does success in one equal success in all of them?

I'm not saying that those questions necessarily detract from the plot in Calamity, but to me they are distracting. Sanderson has a gift for writing great action scenes, but alternate dimensions require too much attention when there are bullets flying around.

This book is an almost 5 stars (which still equals 4) due to the overall story. He remains a master at his craft, and while I might not appreciate every choice he makes, I do appreciate how he continues to push the envelope with his immense creative ability.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

Firefight (Reckoners, #2)Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like this series. The action is intense, the danger real, and the setting is both familiar and foreign at the same time. The weakness, for me, is in the characters. Especially David. He seems like an immature, hot-headed weakling a lot of the time, and yet somehow he lives through scenes where everyone else is being wiped out. It is like an action movie where the hero runs across open ground while an entire army of bad guys is shooting machine guns at him and somehow he never goes down. His planning isn't as good as the Reckoners, yet he still kills Epics. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book and I don't think of David as a flaw, rather that he has flaws...

Overall this is another solid read. If you took my advice and read Steelheart, I don't have to tell you to read this one, because you probably already have.