Lord Ruler has fallen , Skaa are free , the empire has begun and yet the shadow of the survivor looms upon all , over powering everyone . And we all mLord Ruler has fallen , Skaa are free , the empire has begun and yet the shadow of the survivor looms upon all , over powering everyone . And we all miss him dearly
WHAT I LIKED :
The weIn remembering how good the first book was , it was an uphill task to deliver another good outing ,however Mr Brandon Sanderson is a master storyteller for a reason . He delivers a book in Well of ascension that is a worthy successor to the first book while adding a lot of political intrique , some absolutely mind bonkers , awe inspiring, jaw dropping action sequences and a lot more focus on the characters .
Especially touching in this character narrative were the friendship formed between Breeze and Clubs , the relationship of Tindwyl and Sazed and Oreseur and Vin .
Vin's growth as a character throughout the book is well done , it never feels like a female character written by a Male author , it feels right and one of the chapters where Vin shares her thoughts with Elend is really heart wrenching (in a good way) . And well the final 2 parts of the book were simply awesome and delivered a climax that really shades all the fallacies this book had
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE :
The biggest issue i had with the book was the lack of the Survivor . In my opinion the survivor carried the first book , in the first book the world was bleak , but Survivor's charm made me as a reader ignore the weakness. The multitude of references involving all the characters missing him doesnt help but is a constant reminder as to what we are missing .
Meanwhile, the political gimmicks sometimes dragged the book , and i absolutely felt the length of the book , whereas the first book. Felt a lot shorter than it actually was . It was not until the final 2 sections of the book that i got immersed into binge read mode .
There was also a lack of credibility in the love triangle , for me the introduction of the triangle felt forced and Vin came across as a gullible idiot , the final twist also was significantly less impactful and pretty predictable.
Finally , while my indifference to Elend turned into genuine likeness , Tindwyl as a character was grating and i hated much of her chapters , it was only when she got paired with Sazed that she generated any positive emotions from me .
CONCLUSION:
A solid entry into the series , which on its own is probably a very good book , a better book than i give it credit for , however as stated earlier the shadow of the Survivor looms over this book and the inevitable comparison with the first book makes the reading experience here a little less enjoyable and hence it shows on my ratings...more
The stakes were really high , resulting in some crisp action sequences and an overall fast pacThe most 'obvious' book I ever read.
WHAT I LIKED :
The stakes were really high , resulting in some crisp action sequences and an overall fast paced book reading experience. I also credit the author for having a foresight into how the series would finish and hence foreshadowed a lot of things in previous books.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
Its always nice to see your protagonist getting power upgrades , however it sucks when the upgrades make the protagonist overpowered thats what happened in this book , the author made Percy so overpowered that it was absolutely non feasible for the story to be taken seriously.
This also allowed for much of the books plot holes , (view spoiler)[from how Nico ever finding out about Luke's initial plan , to Percy selecting the most obvious weak point in body , to Nakamura suddenly swapping side with no incentive (hide spoiler)], it was all way too error prone.
The final reveals of plot points was also very dissatisfying as it was clear as day from the first few pages of the book about whats about to take place .
CONCLUSION:
Look , i have admitted that i read this book series at a wrong age ,but i honestly can't see how as a young reader I would havebeen gullible enough to fall for the failings of the books . Again , it's maybe the age speaking or maybe i am simply not the intended audience . Overall my whole series experience was dull and the final book felt especially underwhelming ...more
The more i read this series, the more i feel to have started this book series at an wrong age
WHAT I LIKED:
The scope of the adventures keep growThe more i read this series, the more i feel to have started this book series at an wrong age
WHAT I LIKED:
The scope of the adventures keep growing in size, it really makes the premise more interesting . The action sequences in the book were very neatly done , for a younger audience the book is very captivating or so it feels .
WHAT I DISLIKED :
Two big issues for me with this book were the side characters almost each and every one of them feels silly , most of all Annabeth , who was very much the 'Hermione' of the group , saving everyone by being the smartest in the room has suddenly become a dull forever damsel in distress.
Grover also feels very much needless , he calls himself Percy's best friend but never really interacts much with percy or even care about him , but he keeps saying "best friend" probably to remind the readers about such a relationship existing .
And while the side characters wither , Percy for some reason keeps becoming a problem solver , which i get that he is the main character and all , but its a sudden change where he was helpless in the first book but suddenly is Hercules 2.0
There's also a fixed pattern of story progression in every book , its way too formulaic and gets boring real fast
CONCLUSION:
I keep repeating myself , but a younger me would have ignored the flaws and loved this book series , sadly i am not young , sadly it's just not a book that I'd recommend someone near my age. But young readers would definitely enjoy it...more
Higher stake , easier stake, still not my cup of tea
WHAT I LIKED:
The books have always felt a little low stake , this book changed it , stakes Higher stake , easier stake, still not my cup of tea
WHAT I LIKED:
The books have always felt a little low stake , this book changed it , stakes were really higher and more exciting.
The action scenes were more fun to read .
The secondary characters brought in were exciting to read .
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE :
Though the new characters were enjoyable the older characters , mainly Glover and Annabeth felt shelved and pretty useless.
There's too much predictability with the plot , it's way too easy to figure things out .
CONCLUSION:
Its a decent YA series and for that age group this is a fantastic addition to the series . I still feel i came into the series late but overall it's not the worst i have read , but definitely not the best either ...more
Not gonna lie , this was a dull read , made me put down and not read anything for a while
WHAT I LIKED :
As YA fantasy goes , the author has realNot gonna lie , this was a dull read , made me put down and not read anything for a while
WHAT I LIKED :
As YA fantasy goes , the author has really put in a lot of work for these , bringing on myths and characters from deep end of the greek mythology. There are a lot of fun elements involved to make the book a sub genre of Urban fantasy even (I personally enjoyed the whole burger food chain explanation a whole lot) .
The writing is still very crisp and for its target audience , i feel the book reads very well . The cast of characters was also changed and new characters introduced and clarise was given a bit more significance . The latter , i really appreciated coz it opens avenue for other characters and make them more than the one-note characters they were written as , in the first book.
The climax of the book was very entertaining the final battle between the cyclops and the Luke vs Percy battle were really well written and were thoroughly enjoyable .
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Mind you , i am not the target demographic for this book , maybe that's why I found it tiresome to read how monotonous almost every character was , everyone felt very one dimensional and acted way too foolishly in most circumstances.
The book also fell into a schematic path and you can find a common formula for both books. The dialogues and actions of characters were really grating making even the 200 pages seem like 500.
Finally the book had a lot of plot contrivance and help for characters arrived out of nowhere, considering this is a greek mythology based book , the concept of Ex-machina shouldnt be a big deal , but it was for me , in a negative way.
CONCLUSION :
There are things in the book that are really fun but the overall experience for me has been one of tiredness , i feel like i am trying to force myself into enjoying this book, however i do recognise there are things that the author does really well . Overall my view holds that i have come to this book at a wrong age , and younger audiences will enjoy this more than i did. In fact young teenagers will adore this book . My ratings are reflective of what i feel but in my opinion a younger audience will rate it much higher...more
I read the whole series as a omnibus , so i made a decision to review the individual books separately and use this omnibus as a review for the whole sI read the whole series as a omnibus , so i made a decision to review the individual books separately and use this omnibus as a review for the whole series , it allowed me a chance to review the whole series as a separate entity , although i understand that it also increases my page count/books read numbers. But i'm willing to accept this cheating
WHAT I LIKED:
The writing for the whole series was very nice. Considering the target audience this felt like a book suited for young audiences , fast paced , easy vocabulary, quick witted , and overall civil.
Add to that the wonderful setting, an urban fantasy based on Greek mythology. That's just box office . And the author used the setting very wisely so much so at times you are kept wondering what is actually mythology and what is inspired.
The action and adventure that follow are equally wonderful and give the book a very fast pace .
WHAT I DISLIKED:
Unfortunately the book always feels like it was meant for young adults and no one else . It falls into typical YA book tropes and never really recovers , with events and characters action falling into a very childish behaviour, always risk free and filled with silly mistakes that really makes an adult reader groan .
Add to that almost all the dialogues feel cheesy, and the plots of all books have holes that may go unnoticed by a young reader but not by most , if not all , adult readers .
CONCLUSION :
The book series is good , its not perfect , but it's good and it's enough good for a YA audience , come at it late and you may not find things to enjoy , but at the right age this book will leave a lasting impact ...more
The idea of a dystopian future where humanity is enslaved to Virtual reality is not a new concept {Jon[image]
What I liked About The book :
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The idea of a dystopian future where humanity is enslaved to Virtual reality is not a new concept {Jonny Quest did it first you know} , but this book shows that the world has fully accepted the virtual world and the book doesn't stop to focus on why it's evil or stuff like that , hence creating a fascinating world where life depends on how much virtual you can be .
The whole , book premise then holds on to the contest that the whole world is fixated on and some of those contest were really fun to read along . In particular the plan set by the lead protagonist - Wade Warett , to infiltrate the enemy and find a way to win the contest was really entertaining .
What I didn't Like About This book :
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Hold on to your seats , coz this is the long part of the review coz mannn I didn't like a lot of stuff in the book .
Firstly , let me get something out of the way , the books demographic audience are the people who want to live in nostalgia and in this book, it's the 80s Nostalgia , I was born in 88 , ergo , I miss out on the target demographic . That said being in India most of the stuff that the Western world enjoyed in 80s were still solid in the 90s in India , which means I should be as nostalgic and geeked out as the book intended . Alas , I wasn't .
Because honestly , most of the stuff the book mentions and puts on a pedestal , I actually didn't like . Like the TV shows , or some of the Atari games . And therein lies the problem with the book . The book focuses on a world where everyone is either liking or forcing themselves to like the same things as the maker of OASIS , it took me all of the book to come to terms with that idea. It's impossible for everyone to like the same things, if everyone loved and hated the same things life becomes monotonous .
Again ,the book is not just about the 80's nostalgia , there are the characters and once again , I hated each and every character in the book . With the dialogue exchanges feeling weird and non-human and character actions and motivations seeming to be on the side of rubbish and stupid . I can't tell you the number of times I had the urge to bitch-slap that main protagonist or the times I kept rolling my eyes on his stalking romantic quest with Art3mis.
Finally the fact that the world of Ready player one promotes a utopia, that exists in the world of VR and it's totally normal to ignore your real life problem or real world destruction Just made me feel ridiculous and absurd .
Conclusion:
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Most of my friends who have read this or seen the movie have loved it , I read it and have hated it and decided not to watch the movie . Ready Player one however is a modern pop cultural phenomena with both the book and the movie having done well . However , I didn't like this and I believe that whether or not you will like this book is dependent on how much your nostalgia can blind you from the plot holes and problems .
only read the B , Is For Big Foot Storyline , which is also a part of the Dresden Files series .
Honestly I am not a fan of short stories , in thatonly read the B , Is For Big Foot Storyline , which is also a part of the Dresden Files series .
Honestly I am not a fan of short stories , in that I generally don't like reading short stories , because the pay off doesn't feel very satisfying in the end .
This one was no different either , featuring Harry taking a case for a Bigfoot and dealt with something I personally have had also dealt with - Bullying . It was a very nice story , however the cause for dissapointment came in the form of the fact that Harry's magical use was almost non-existent in this , we didn't really delve much into the Lore of the Big foot or the later introduced Svartalfar. And it's the later one which really sucked too bad , coz I am not very familiar to the Norse Mythology and I was really looking forward to knowing how they would be dealt with .
In the end the Bullying part was handled really well , but the story , as almost every short story I have ever read , left me unsatisfied in terms of it's usage of the magical creatures and magic itself ...more
I went into this knowing that i will probably find it not suitable for my reading age, and yet the premise is so alluring i just pushed myself to readI went into this knowing that i will probably find it not suitable for my reading age, and yet the premise is so alluring i just pushed myself to read it .
WHAT I LIKED :
The premise is everything for this book . I think most people would agree that Greek/Roman mythology has forever been one of most exciting and lucrative mythology , to then decide to incorporate it into modern world was a genius ploy and for me it worked brilliantly , with twists to dyslexia , adhd , gods living on the non existent top floor of empire state building . These are the kind of imaginative writing that i live for as a reader .
Despite it being a YA novel , I didn't thankfully have to deal with any teenage angst or a love triangle . For it's targeted audience the book also tries to preach the concept of being humble , environmental damage , bravery & friendship . In fact these subjects are dealt with relatively subtly , so that while young readers get a learning experience the older readers dont find it to be an act of nauseating show off preach .
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The book still isnt all that good in terms of writing , its written for a targetted audience , who are much younger than i am at this point, this hampers my reading experience as much of the interchanges between characters appear cheesy and the explanation of the surrounding and the acts occuring becoming very simplistic.
The choice of villain with the added prophecy took away a lot from the story , without the prophecy the identity of the main culprit becomes way too hard to predict and the reveal at the end becomes more impactful
The action scenes also were way too simplistic and unexciting
CONCLUSION:
the plot of the book is exciting enough to make most read it , but while reading one must keep in mind that the target audience for the book is the younger generation of new readers for whom , i feel this book can work as an excellent entry point to become a bibliophile . For adult readers , keeping this in mind may make reading experience much better...more
Dr Rashmit
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