What Billie read

No offense to all those I just unfollowed.

 

Thing is -- I never actually started following a single one of you. Either I was hacked (unlikely), or booklikes subscribed me to you automatically for whatever reason. I freaked and dropped pretty much everyone off my list; feel free to do the same.

 

Seriously, though, booklikes? NOT COOL. I'm still kinda creeped out.

Still need to formulate a response. Some books, when they end, are like good friends departed. This one's on a journey and will return with the final book of the series, but even so, I'll need some time to think before I can write a proper review.

 

Thoughts:

I'm not sure whether to give four or five stars.

 

While TWMF did not suck me in as deeply as TNotW did, it did so more quickly.

 

I'm looking forward to re-reading it in time.

 

I felt that Kvothe's tale is a little more self-indulgent than it was before, but even so, I enjoyed it a lot.

Scott Lynch doesn't pull his punches.I think this is probably the best fantasy I've read since Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind. Locke's world is dark, grimey, and dangerous, but not entirely devoid of humour and nice moments. The book kept me up until 4AM reading, and I didn't think that much time had passed.I have some problems with this book, don't get me wrong -- a lot of things are left unexplained (maybe in the sequel, I don't know), most of the characters don't get that much character development. Especially the Sanza twins seemed so much like the comical twin trope, and that's a huge waste in my eyes -- they could've done with much more depth. Then again, that'd just have made me feel all that much more attached to them, so maybe it's good that didn't happen. :/ A few other things -- the thing with Locke's name, the deus-ex-"oh NOW I remember" at Raven's Reach in the end, and a few more -- didn't convince me completely, but I'm definitely going to read the sequel.In ways of world-building, style, and fun, this absolutely deserves five stars. :)

Better than the second book from the series, but not quite up to the standard set by "Transformation". I liked the idea with the Madonai, though I wish it had been explored more carefully. The ending ... I have mixed feelings about that one. I suppose it was a good one, just not the ending I hoped for. Part of the problem is that I sort of fail to see the connection between some of the characters, but ... yeah. Glad I finished the series, at least.

Seyonne's martyrium continues. Boy, does Berg enjoy seeing him suffer.

 

Liked the new characters (many brownie points for Balthar being something completely different from what I expected) and the way we learn more about demons, Ezzarians, and the world as a whole.

 

The book would've earned a solid 3/5 if not for the overly lengthy (I felt) passages of despair and confusion in the middle of the narrative. Not as strong as Transformation, but I'll continue to read-- interested to see what Restoration has in store for the characters.