Fantasy Archives - Page 3 of 19

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Posted on February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(3 / 5)

Penryn & the End of Days #1
Angelfall is a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy, where the remains of humanity are fighting for survival against angels who descended with a wave of destruction. I was quite intrigued by the concept; I’ve always been a fan of angel/devil mythos and enjoy stories that bring these judeo-christian ideas to life (Supernatural anyone?). We don’t get to delve as deep into the mythos in this book as I would like, and in fact it doesn’t seem like anyone really knows why the angels descended (not even the angels themselves). We do get a snippet of it at the very end, so I’m hoping that there will be more in the books to come.

It took me a long time to get into Angelfall. I was kind of underwhelmed by the main characters, whose personalities were pretty one-dimensional and uninteresting. Frankly, I found the first half of the novel kind of boring and didn’t really start to get into it until well after halfway through. For me, I think part of the problem is that apart from Raffe (and a quick cameo in the beginning), we don’t really interact with any angels until the end of the novel. Being that the big draw for me was the angels themselves, I think I was disappointed in the survivalist journey that made up the majority of the story. Once we got to the aerie, I became much more engrossed and the story finally started to grab me.

Overall, an okay start but I’m hoping that the rest of the series delves a bit deeper.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(3.5 / 5)

Mistborn #1
Mistborn is a fun fantasy heist-turned-revolution adventure. I found the concept of allomancy unique and interesting: a magic system with some very strict and specific rules. There are a lot of characters, but not so much as to be overwhelming (along the lines of an ocean’s-eleven style crew) and their individual personalities seem to compliment each other well. I will say that some of the secondary character’s weren’t well fleshed out, but I imagine they will gain more “air-time” in the novels to come. I’m really interested in seeing more from Elend; he quickly turned into one of my favorite characters. And I’m curious about Marsh, hopefully we will learn more about him in the sequels.

While part of a series, the novel stands well on its own. In fact, things are wrapped up quite nicely by the end of the book, so I’m not sure where the story goes from here. Perfect for those looking for a fantasy to get their feet wet, without diving into a long series.

My biggest problem with Mistborn would have to be the pacing. The beginning of the novel is very slow. Sanderson spends a lot of time in his introduction of Vin and the world, and it took me ages to slog through (though this is my standard complaint about most Adult Fantasy). About half-way through, the pace picks up and I started to really engage with the characters. But I think the story could have been about 2/3 of the length without losing much story.

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(3.5 / 5)

Witchlands #1
Truthwitch introduces a fun fantasy world that I really found myself embracing as the story progressed. The story is fast-paced and full of adventure, the world is rich and unique, and the relationships complex and interesting. I particularly liked Safiya’s fiery personality and the growth her character makes in this book. Merik has to be my favorite character, though; I love his fierce dedication to his country and his people.

The pacing of Truthwitch starts out a bit rough. You are thrown into the action, where concepts, terms, and locations unique to the world are thrown out with very little explanation. It was a little off putting at the start, especially with our two main characters splitting up almost immediately, but it eventually found its stride. While I enjoy gradual worldbuilding (instead of the info dump that some authors do), I think it could have been handled better. But by about the midpoint of the novel, everything really came together and the ending was action-packed, explosive, and left you wanting more. I’m excited to see where the story goes from here.

Talon by Julie Kagawa

Posted on January 30, 2018June 16, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(4 / 5)

Talon #1
While I expected to enjoy Kagawa’s latest series, I was surprised by how much the story drew me in. I’m not sure how much of that was Kagawa’s story, and how much of that was the amazing performance by the narrators of the audio version, but I quickly became hooked! I love how the story is told from multiple points of view, which was made even better by having a separate narrator for each point of view in the audio version.

While there isn’t anything novel about the structure of Kagawa’s work, she uses some common and predictable tropes, her character’s always seem to draw you in. At its heart, Talon is really a supernatural romance, but I can’t help but root for these star-crossed lovers. I mean a Dragon masquerading in human form, falling for a undercover member of a dragon-slaying cult…what’s not to like?

Overall the story is fun and quick and I find the character’s endearing. I look forward to seeing how this series progresses (and I hope there is more from Dante’s POV in the sequels).

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake

Posted on January 27, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(4 / 5)

Three Dark Crowns #2
So deliciously dark, this book was full of surprises. There were a lot of twists in this book that I didn’t expect, and that is always refreshing. While the previous novel, Three Dark Crowns, was a lot of preamble, One Dark Throne really kicks up the action. The ascension year has begun, and our queens are out for blood! Katherine is even darker and creepier in this one, I enjoyed her wicked ways. Arsinoe really stood out for me, the queen who doesn’t want the throne, but has the strongest will to survive. I even came to like Mirabella in this one, where she didn’t really stand out for me in the first novel.

I’m really enjoying Blake’s writing style. The third-person omniscient point of view allows her to flit back and forth quickly between character perspectives, often multiple times in the same scene, giving you great little insights into each character’s thoughts and motivations.

The ending leaves things very open, and I have no idea where the story will go from here. There are a lot of possibilities, and I look forward to more surprises in the books to come.