Maša > Recent Status Updates

Blood of Amber: Merlin continues to blunder about the world in an almost comic manner. It reminds me more of other Zelazny's satirical works for its dry humor and nonsensical plot. The shift lessened some of the characters for me, alas, and I find myself even further removed from any kind of emotional resonance. Time for a break!

Trumps of Doom: Well, Merlin is a step down from his father. Dry, even, arrogant, and stupid. This reads like an opera, everyone is dramatic and communication is bad. Still, ebjoyable enough, now I know what could await if the plot tightens...

The Courts of Chaos: What a finale! I must confess I greatly enjoyed this pentalogy. It started out rough and I almost dropped it, but it is truly enjoyable. All those tropes sown through, some of them used today over and over again. Not perfect, but a true adventure!

Sign of the Unicorn: Well, the story keeps getting better. The strife continues, and we learn more about our characters and the world. The pieces are here, the plot is tight.

Sign of the Unicorn: Well, this is a step up from the first book. More characterization, worldbuilding, and actual empathy from our MC.

"The Guns of Avalon" was a bit tamer and slower than the first installment, and it reminded me that Corwin (and the rest of his family, really) is unlikable and villainous. So, seeing him out of his depth, and being outclassed because of ego was very enjoyable.

The nostalgia is hitting hard, and I'm loving the short format of the installments. Being back to Amber feels familiar, but I've forgotten so much of it (no pun intended) I'm also interested. There is a rumour Zelazny wrote this on a dare, and I think it just speaks on his genious with words and concepts it's good!

Riddle Master of Hed and Heir of Sea and Fire

The end is nigh after pretty entertaining arc. Sure, Taylor is almost unrecognizable which was done via time-lapse and not actual character work, but who am I to complain. She got therapy and that helped her go completely paranoid and machiavellian, who knows.

Grand Tour: Off to the continent, and immediately in the middle of the plot to bring the old magic back. Delightfull, but would like to see more of magic.

Behemoth is killed in a drawn-out but all in all pretty anti-climactic fight. Lots of character death, but all of it left me cold. Regent who? Also, the way Taylor gets shat on by adults that should support her is appaling.

Adulthood Rites: Butler really knows how to make me uncomfortable with genome swapping, identity crises, and questions about humanity. Her outlook of the latter is very bleak, though, and I would like to believe we are not so hopeless as a species.

Enchanted Pot: Dear Reader, I have to impart to you the great joy I feel reading about this alternate history post Napoleonic England. The two titular characters, written by Wrede and Stevermer, seem like they would be great friends of mine.

Dawn: Deeply weird and disturbing, as well as addictive. It left me with lots of things to think about. A bit extreme reactions shown, maybe?

Finally Taylor is not in her head as much. Also, most interesting turn of events, power vacuum bounds to be interesting

Coil/Noelle ARCs: well, just when I started getting bored by Coil ARC things got interesting with Travelers, and a little Cauldron in the mix. The battles are same-y, though, and there is still less impact by character death. I am pretty interested in the world, though, and some of the characters. Skitter is a bit boring for me, though. All those chunks of text and moralizing...

Slaughterhouse arc thoughts: Wasn't a fan of SH9, to be honest - they were so over the top evil it was hard to get into the story (Cherish being the exception). Broader story is more intriguing - what is with the Cauldron and the "heroes"?!

Finished with 8.Extermination. Well, this was a ride and now I will rest. This is a weird mix of teenage drama and adult themes and sometimes I felt a bit baffled by the voice. It is really addictive, and I dig the superhero theme a lot, I am a sucker for all the powers and heroes themselves. I dislike traitor stories so I don't know when and if I will continue. I hope it's resolved quickly.

And so it begins. Pretty standard for now, I'm interested to see the backstory of the bullies (I hope we get one), and to see the writer's style progress. Bleak superheroes in a bleak world - don't know how fast this will go with my mood in this day and age.

Who would have thought war could be so fun? The worldbuilding seems pretty immense. I am impressed so far. There is certain whimsy to it, and the protagonist is a half-hearted bastard battered by chance. He just wants to be left alone

Characterization of Idaan so far makes no sense. If she has Borderline, it's unconvincing,and anything else seems bogus.I think we're coming to the reason I stopped reading Expanse series: Abraham ultimately fails at writing female characters - Idaan is a caricature of "hysterical feminist" so far, and plot holes are too much:she planned for cloak-and-daggers in a gossipy environment, but not for keyes?

Re-read the first part, and now I'm off to new stuff. Male gaze does exist here, but weirdly, about Awakened. Fighting scenes are mostly fine. "Female liberation is sexual" moment or am I reading into things?

A Shadow in Summer notes (3.5/5)
- awesome prologue
- would like to see more of Seedles
- all characters are idiots when the plot needs it syndrome (why did O kill H? makes no sense)
- the setting believable and now I want to eat ginger and go to the market; vast world I want to explore more
- social norms not completely clear, hope for more clarification (women in business but not poets?)

How much sexism can you pack in every scene with a new female present? Daniel certainly tries! Ugh

#2:A Gathering of Shadows
The plot thickens, the stakes are higher, and our main protagonists are even more inept than before! Lila has some kind of emotional unstable disorder which, paired with her misogynistic views, makes her a character I have big problems reading about. Kell is an awful diplomat, and an insufferable prick all in all. His guard, Hansa, is the best character in the book. I want to read about him

#1: A Darker Shade of Magic
[Impressions in 400 character or less]:
Interesting world, I like how magic operates differently in each world. Underdeveloped, though, as well as the characters. It's pretty inconsistent, overall. I find it hard to swallow a well spoken thief who was starving for most of her life, as well as a diplomat with a gift for being rude, insensitive, and inflexible.

I'm in love.

Swords Against Wizardry: A huge improvement over the third book, this book consists of two loosely connected longer stories - both with a very strong sense of place, albeit one is about a mountain and the other about the underground kingdom. The plots are solid, and the characters varied (ones in Quarmall reminded me at times of Gormenghast) - albeit inconsistent - and I liked the humor.