Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

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Given that I’ve been keeping a slice of life list since at least 2018, me reading Legends & Lattes, the most hyped slice of life fantasy book of 2022, was only a question of time. I simply had to see what’s it all about and one more book to add is never a bad thing. Did I enjoy it? Sure. It made for a perfect light, fun beach read. Hell, coffee- or teashop based books are something I generally wish there was more of. But I did have some issues with the worldbuilding and immersion as well.

Review: Redemption’s Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky (After the War #1)

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What happens after the Dark Lord has been defeated?

“For that thing only, for the most selfish of reasons, I regret we killed him. We fought and we hurt and some of us died, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being a hero. I knew I was doing the right thing. I knew I was alive. And now he’s dead and we’re…lost. It’s like the world expected us to die with him, and doesn’t know what to do with us.”

I have been looking for books dealing with consequences of war and upheaval for a long, long time. I find the questions of what happens after the big bad is gone – how do they rebuild, how do they deal with what the war cost them, what has changed, what happens to the heroes and the leftovers of the big bad’s minions now – much more interesting than the standard epic fantasy plot of the events leading up to that. But few books ever touch upon that. Redemption’s Blade seemed perfect for scratching that particular itch.

Review: The Silence of Medair by Andrea K. Höst (Medair #1)

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The Silence of Medair is the book that concludes the 2019 r/Fantasy Bingo challenge for me. Oddly enough, it’s been on my TBR since 2015, mostly because of the concept, so I was curious to finally try it. Unfortunately, it has not lived up to its promise – while the idea is indeed great, the execution is…less so.

Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #2)

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This post contains no spoilers for The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1).

The Stormlight Archive is a series that needs no additional introduction. When I want something long and suitably epic, I can count on it to deliver. But while it works very well as a whole and is one of the better epic fantasy series I’ve encountered, the individual parts are far from flawless and I cannot separate it from the hype surrounding it. Because of that, this has been one of the hardest reviews to write.

For once, I’m not going to attempt to summarize the plot. A lot happens and unlike most epic fantasy, it doesn’t have a clear arc, not until the very end. A good or a bad thing? Depends. As usual, Sanderson holds his cards close and keeps information to  dribble right until the end, when he unleashes everything at once.

Mini Reviews: Ninefox Gambit, Treason’s Shore, Prince of the Godborn (DNF), A Coalition of Lions

You may have noticed there haven’t been any posts for a while. Since March started and I got hit with a full load of classes and assignments again, time and energy for reviews have been scarce. Writing takes a lot out of me. I faced quite the conundrum: I still wanted to review every book I read, but at the same time I’ve been way too exhausted to and in a massive reading slump besides. Blogging simply fell by the wayside.

This is a compromise: a series of mini reviews that don’t quite fit my usual format. It’s probably not going to be the last post of this type. I’m starting to feel better, there will be longer reviews again, but it’s probably still a while until I’ll be able to post with any sort of consistency.

Reread: Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Myer (The Harp and Ring Sequence #1)

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I’ve been in a bit of a slump, so I went for another quick re-read. There’s a whole pile of books waiting to be read, a reading challenge to finish…and ended up grabbing and devouring this book again instead. Oops.

This is classic epic fantasy in modern clothes. It’s the living proof how much do complex characters and atmospheric writing improve a seemingly simple, stale story concept – deceptively simple as you read it, then you try to describe it and stumble upon all the little intricacies. And the best thing, it doesn’t take hundreds of pages and multiple books to get to the point as is usual for the subgenre.

All her life, music was a secret. It was what you stole to the cellar at midnight or the deep pine woods to play, or sing. Verse was composed in greater secrecy still, by light of a single candle after dark. Even then, Lin had to hide the burned-out candle the next day, smuggle it out to the midden heap under the cover of the night.

But now music was a drinking song in a tavern performed to  crowds of rough men, or more recently, a stately ballad sung to lords at their firesides.

Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #1)

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I went into this book quite wary because of the combination of the incredible amount of hype and my disappointment with most of the other Sanderson books I read. I’m far from new to the genre. In fact, I did not plan to start the series until at least book 4 came out at all. But my friends insisted and I did not regret it.

Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.

It is, at its core, fairly classic epic fantasy. The protagonists are mostly noble, the antagonists are mostly bad, and the world needs saving. It’s also pretty damn good at what it does.

Review: The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton (The Bitterbynde #1)

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The Ill-Made Mute is basically the fantasy equivalent of comfort food. It felt cozy and nostalgic, that sort of book you read curled up in a blanket with a cup of tea, and I’d say that despite its many flaws and the cliché/predictable nature of certain plot elements, it was still worth reading.

The plot is mostly about our protagonist’s seach for memories, identity and a cure for poisoning which disfigured their face. After waking up in a tower and spending some time (well, the first 100 or so pages) as a servant, wandering around and being mistreated by everyone, they sneak on a windship and escape with the hope of finding a cure but stumble upon adventure instead. Regardless, despite the fact that nothing happens, I actually liked the early tower section the best and could read a whole book’s worth of that.