Tyson Vaughan > Recent Status Updates

Taking my time with this one. It's epic and complex, with multiple POVs. The audiobook, while well-narrated, doesn't lend itself to listening in noisy environments. So far, I'm really enjoying being immersed in this deep, rich setting of the Tongan Empire -- broken and brutal though it may be. The many characters are distinct and compelling. Johnson's prose is always sharp, often beautiful.

There's so much I thoroughly enjoy in this book, but two or three times in critical moments the male protagonist makes absolutely nonsensical decisions, totally inconsistent with his character and objectives. It makes me want to scream. Still, from around the 50% mark this is quite the page-turner.

Enjoying this, but there are quite a lot of belief-stretching, conspicuously convenient coincidences. Hirka escapes to Ravnhov, and the first person she meets in the woods happens to be the prince? One such coincidence is fine, but this keeps happening over and over. And the only purpose seems to be to reduce the page count.

Usually in stories about the one special child who's different from everyone else, that child is the one with the magical abilities. In this story, everybody else in the world has magical talent, and the special girl is the only one without it. Would love to know more about the Norse folklore this is based on.

Enjoying this Nordic fantasy so far. Hirka, the protagonist, reminds me very much of Livira, the protagonist of The Book That Wouldn't Burn.

I think I might like this third book even better than the first. It's taut, focused. Still full of a crazy number of entities and ideas, but it all feels like rushing toward a definitive conclusion. A page-turner. I'm honestly inclined to recommend new readers just skip the overstuffed confusion of the second book, maybe read a summary, and then read this one. In effect, treat it as a duology.

Enjoying this so far. After loving the first book, I found the second one a confusing mess. I remember almost nothing about it. This one is giving me first book vibes again. Also, Turnbull slyly turned this trilogy into a tetralogy by bringing his debut novel into the Convergence Saga universe. Which is cool, but now I kinda feel like I need to go read The Lesson before finishing this one.

Of course she ends up having an affair with the Dark. I so desperately hoped that Schwab wouldn't steer the story in that tired direction. There were signs early on, but I'd hoped such an author wouldn't succumb to such a cliché. It's well written, and there's still a lot to like here, but some of this feels like stock female wish fulfillment. The tall, suave Dark? The shy and sensitive "boy with a broken heart"?

Can't believe I'm only just past the halfway mark. Feels like the climax is right around the corner.