Wednesday Reading
Feb. 6th, 2019 09:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redrikkiJust Finished
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas (a.k.a. the final Throne of Glass book) - Finally. This 1,000 door stop of a book took me nearly two weeks to get through and I swear I could feel every. single. page. The ending was deeply satisfying and pretty moving in some parts, but the book over all was a slog with multiple battles, two protracted sieges, two side quests, one protracted torture session, and a whole lot of characters wandering around and angsting.
Over all, the Throne of Glass series was decent, I guess. Aelin was a fun character to read, and I really loved some of the supporting characters, especially Manon, Elide, and Yrene. Their character arcs all felt satisfying and earned. The world building was excellent and interesting. Maas has a real flair for witty banter, and snappy dialogue in general.
That's not to say that the series didn't have problems, cause boy, did it have problems. The pacing was all over the place. Books 1 through 3 moved at an almost glacial pace while 4 and 5 were a mile-a-minute action. Book six was a good story, but it came in the wrong place and broke the momentum like a brick wall, and I don't think the series ever really recovered.
Marathonining it also made obvious some of the author's flaws as a writer. Maas has a tendency to love surprises and gotcha gambits. Surprise, the heroine has been using a fake name the ENTIRE TIME! Surprise, the person she thought was her ally has been screwing her from minute one! Surprise, she's been screwing them over from minute one! Surprise, the heroine has an army in her pocket! Surprise, and here's another one! Sometimes Maas set it up enough that the payoff felt earned, but just as often it came so far out of left field as to seem like a complete deus ex machina ass-pull.
And don't get me started on her writing style. The great Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Maas often reached for the former and ended up with the later. Her prose was often overwrought, especially in terms of describing emotion, magic, or sex, and was just littered with lightning bugs.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this series more the first time I read it and less and less on each read through. The books were gifts, so I'll probably hang on to them for a while, but it will be a long time before I pick them up again.
What I'm Currently Reading
My Hero Academica vol. 1 - I don' read a lot of manga, but this was a birthday gift from a friend and I've heard good things. I'm really enjoying the premise of a world where 80% of people have superpowers, but the basic plot of a teenage boy trying to get into his preferred high school isn't grabbing me so far.
What I'm reading next
Not a clue.
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas (a.k.a. the final Throne of Glass book) - Finally. This 1,000 door stop of a book took me nearly two weeks to get through and I swear I could feel every. single. page. The ending was deeply satisfying and pretty moving in some parts, but the book over all was a slog with multiple battles, two protracted sieges, two side quests, one protracted torture session, and a whole lot of characters wandering around and angsting.
Over all, the Throne of Glass series was decent, I guess. Aelin was a fun character to read, and I really loved some of the supporting characters, especially Manon, Elide, and Yrene. Their character arcs all felt satisfying and earned. The world building was excellent and interesting. Maas has a real flair for witty banter, and snappy dialogue in general.
That's not to say that the series didn't have problems, cause boy, did it have problems. The pacing was all over the place. Books 1 through 3 moved at an almost glacial pace while 4 and 5 were a mile-a-minute action. Book six was a good story, but it came in the wrong place and broke the momentum like a brick wall, and I don't think the series ever really recovered.
Marathonining it also made obvious some of the author's flaws as a writer. Maas has a tendency to love surprises and gotcha gambits. Surprise, the heroine has been using a fake name the ENTIRE TIME! Surprise, the person she thought was her ally has been screwing her from minute one! Surprise, she's been screwing them over from minute one! Surprise, the heroine has an army in her pocket! Surprise, and here's another one! Sometimes Maas set it up enough that the payoff felt earned, but just as often it came so far out of left field as to seem like a complete deus ex machina ass-pull.
And don't get me started on her writing style. The great Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Maas often reached for the former and ended up with the later. Her prose was often overwrought, especially in terms of describing emotion, magic, or sex, and was just littered with lightning bugs.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this series more the first time I read it and less and less on each read through. The books were gifts, so I'll probably hang on to them for a while, but it will be a long time before I pick them up again.
What I'm Currently Reading
My Hero Academica vol. 1 - I don' read a lot of manga, but this was a birthday gift from a friend and I've heard good things. I'm really enjoying the premise of a world where 80% of people have superpowers, but the basic plot of a teenage boy trying to get into his preferred high school isn't grabbing me so far.
What I'm reading next
Not a clue.
