Neil Pearson > Recent Status Updates

It's rare that a book grabs me right out from the first chapter.

This fairy tale has elements of Gaiman's Sandman, and Pullman's Dark materials especially regarding the use of angels.

The audio narration on this one is excellent. Instantly transports me into a northern England setting, albeit medieval.

New creative team/storyline settling in now

The first person narrative very quickly draws you into the story and world - although it does require the narrator often acts like a travel guide. A potentially unreliable one at that.

Did not see that coming. Also this book has been 25% non-stop action. Is it sustainable?

This is a slippery one to grasp, especially with the flashback scenes. Is it Naruto, Avatar the last air bender, or Teen Titans? Or something unique from the blending? The description of the powers and fighting is good although the tonal shifts are currently disorientating (but possibly intentional).

This book has really hit its groove now - thoroughly enjoyable and impressed how they made a new character my favourite. But there's time for them to do something unforgivable like the rest of them.

An assured continuation of the previous book. So far there is one new POV character which works well, although is another self loathing nihilist.

I wonder if Fry is being intentionally meta as it's been an odyssey getting to the part of the book that covers the odyssey.
That or maybe he isn't really that interested in this well known greek legend?

The other POV characters are growing on me now.

Still trying to decide if this has any actual fantasy in it or if it's just historical fiction. Enjoying it despite that minor distraction.
Feels like a wholesome "kellhus" from "the darkness that comes before" which I was not expecting.

I'm 9 hours into the audiobook now and let's just say this book is now feeling very distinct from "the expanse". This is much more an alien invasion/apocalypse story and reminds me a lot of "war of the worlds" or the children's "tripods" books.

There's a lot of research politics going on at the moment. Some elements ring true, others not so much. Different time, different planet though.

Hard to resist this new series from the creative team of "the expanse" - they even have the same audio narrator. This does make it a double edged sword in the sense it is incredibly easy to slip back into the writing/narration, but it is also really hard not to think of this as being a sequel/spin-off of the expanse. Who knows, maybe it is?

I thought it was becoming fanciful but now it feels like this was all supposed to be taken seriously?

Well, her books are certainly those that encourage reading one more page. Not sure the recording gimmick is as fun as the emails in the appeal. Yet.

The twists are coming thick and fast around the half way mark. I like how quickly the author allows characters plans to completely fall apart. At the moment it's like a cascade where the ground is constantly shifting, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

This book gets better the further along it gets. Just when things seem to settle down another twist/event occurs that I didn't see coming.

This is a long one and it's strange how gone are the days a Dresden file lasted a third of the time. I'm not even convinced this story couldn't be told in a more condensed fashion. Fortunately the story isn't sagging as an intense scene is thrown in regularly.

There's something really off-putting about these characters even though I know this is an intentional approach from the creative team to make the eternals feel like something "other" to humans. Maybe the plot will win over but it's an uphill struggle with these characters.

Off to a very good start. Some nice Stephen King and Justin Cronin "apocalypse" vibes but so far without need for everything and everyone being awful.

Into the second book now and the first person perspective is proving fun, as is the awful treatment of Gwendolyn.

Slightly odd side story but guess it's leading to the finale.

Luckily, what I feared was going to be romance based has swerved into political intrigue as various characters collide. This book is proving hard to pin down which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Ugh, it had to go down the romance with the broken guy route. I'll see if it's going to subvert the cliche as I was enjoying the Aladdin meets X-Men vibe but I'm still struggling with the second leas character/POV

There may be a reveal explaining this later, but currently it feels like a character defies logic with constant betrayal followed by success.

Possibly just me reading as a commuter, rather than on holiday, but it's odd how these first few chapters feel different despite moving directly from the first book. Almost a slightly different rhythm.

So far this vignette approach to the "war of realms" event is far more rewarding than the actual event

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Duncan's chronological storytelling approach to history. Great figure to focus on too