Ulysese > Recent Status Updates

Ten percent in and ominous feelings have started. Hoping characters are fully developed and move the plot. As a character focused reader plot driven stories with flat characters bore me to death especially when action takes the place of story telling. Occasionally I watch action-adventure movies as a palette cleaner but too much of anything is not a good thing.

My biggest complaint regarding the story plot introduction of time travel! Normally, time travel serves as a major plot device in science fiction and its usage rarely serves the story well. SOWWL introduced time travel and left me wondering why!

As a character based reader James Islington might be a favorite author. Loving the character and world building. It's a chunky book but at chapter 20 I have not encountered any filler.

The prose is stiff with tacked on verbiage giving an unnatural tone. The novel is told from the POV of a scribe. The world building keeps me interested. The characters are flat.

These period cozy mysteries are pallet cleansers. The language and mannerism are over the top. Without a good investigator gathering evidence these novels would be unreadable.

First novel by Sophie Hannah. Agatha Christie is a favorite author and I hope Sophie Hannah proves to be competent with murder mystery.

The plot thickens with POV characters making plans takes center stage. The plot is true to life in many aspects and I anxiously wait the continuing plot development.

Joe Abercrombie wastes no time with the great change. The story continues were the previous novel ended so the transition is believable. The reactions of main POV characters fits the occasion each finds themselves.

Brilliant story telling without waste or fan fiction.

The meticulous character building is peak! Supporting characters play a significant role throughout the story. I refer to The First Law wiki countless of times for details on the characters. Many characters have appeared in both trilogies as well as the standalone novels. Trying to find the slightest dislike is normally put to the side as the character growth catches up with the story.

First Law World continues to impress me with character and world development. Recurring characters and relations of the first trilogy is astutely written and narrated. The world continues to develop using real world contrivances.

At the 25% mark I am impressed with the story being narrated by Steve Pacey.

The more I read Joe Abercrombie's novels his writing ability stands out. Red Country could have been a novel dedicated to First Law fan fiction. Instead, his prodigious story telling shines and my interest never wavers.

There's a massive spoiler to be found and I cannot continue updating the journal without spoilers. All the First Law and standalone novels have been my favorites.

Day three of the battle ends with an abrupt offer of peach by the Union. The battle portrayed every emotion and across a wide range of individual POVs. The pacing was frenetic and non-stop and the battle was over. However, I await the next twist.

Halfway and Day Two of the battle on the hill. The character stories with depth and humor about human drama is JA at his best. The simplest of plot contrivances leaves to laughter and smiles.

Constantly looking for any twists and turns. Looks like there will be a war with minimal contrivances and backstabbing.

No plot is ever simple for Lord GrimDark!

Best Served Cold has become the best tale of vengeance stories I have read! The references to The First Law trilogy adds so much to both world and character development. Many authors would treat these references as easter eggs or as fan fiction akin to Star Wars. These references have me checking the wiki for those characters who appeared in the trilogy.

Best Served Cold is shaping up to be a 5 star novel.

The novel is less believable due to a teenager acting a detective. Also, the teenager is portrayed with a wandering eye and penchant for falling in love on first sight. Totally unnecessary to plot.

Joe Abercrombie could write a memo and I would be impressed. The clarity and detail of characters never lack in creativity or complexity. This revenge tale is shaping up to be something special!

This series could have been great but due to John Gwynne's forced plot contrivances the entire series continues to suffered. Mistakes made in the first 3 novels continue in the final novel. Character development is used to serve plot points inorganically. Characters lack intuition and intelligence which shows JG lack of character development.

Jorge's constant monologue removes all emotion and stakes to the story. Others mention horror and dread but I have not been able to get emotional at any point in the story. Supporting POV characters are written without any detail or backstory which contributes to lack of caring about the story elements. Each monologue is interspersed within meaningful story progression confusing plot progression with nonsense.

The constant monologue by Jorge in 2 different time periods (present and 4 year earlier) is frustrating. This is my only gripe with King of Thorns.

So I have not found anything psychotic about the main POV. This may be due to the world building. This novel starts without any fanfare which I found appealing. It's fast paced and easy to follow.

I do not understand all the fuss.

This novel might quickly become the worst cozy story I have read. The protagonists are supposedly 60 something ladies but are written as 40 something assassins! What is the point of senior citizen retired assassins when the characterizations are false. Hoping the character development improves otherwise I may DNF the story.

American mystery/thriller authors should take lessons from our friends across the pond.

The action adventure is let down due to the myriad one-sided battle depicted. The POV characters are shown during the battles but these battles do not spur me to any emotional stake due to the overwhelming number of enemy combatants. Major POV character deaths are easily guessed due to the imbalance.

I upgraded my rating of the first 2 books due to Ruin addressing the issues my issues. All in all the plot contrivances for both protagonist and antagonist are liberal and the entire series must be read to make any conclusions. The fast pace, action adventure and emotional troupes are well written.

Looking forward to concluding the series.

The series is highly overrated based on completing the first 2 novels. The plots are predictable with the "how" being the only mystery. The magic system appears to be a work in progress or put another way "the win button". Motivations are explained via the overarching God War. Besides the numerous and repetitive battle scenes every chapter has skirmishes for past grudges or incursions adding nothing to the story.

John Gwynne's writing is easy to admire and absorb. The story is enjoyable as are the character interactions. However, Valor like the first book in the series Malice contains too much padding. There are characters that do not add anything to the story as well as episodes of characters standing around talking about feeling, etc.

I hope the padding does not kill my enjoyment of the series.

I have read cozy mysteries from Anthony Horowitz, Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood, T.E. Kinsey, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, etc. and found this initial volume to be wholly different from any previous cozy. The story setups future stories for the main protagonist.

Looking forward to the ending to gauge my interest in continuing the series.