Guga’s Reviews > Gardens of the Moon > Status Update

I'm not sure why, but I kind of like it...

I mean, I see no reason as to why. Some of these characters are insufferable, but I still love learning more about others, like Kruppe and Quick Ben.

Some of the worldbuilding is confusing like baseball, but other parts of it intrigue me the same way Dark Souls lore does. It's hard to grasp, but so interesting to ponder on about.

Super conflicted.

I'm more of a character guy, and this book, though it has no shortage of them, doesn't have fantastic characterization. Not yet, at least.

It's getting somewhat better. The characters are very, VERY slowly growing on me. I can see some of the themes clearer, now that the confusion-fest is moving away. I desperately want to finish this book so I can move on to the improved sequels. Regardless of how it all turns out, I will have to finish this book series, even if I come to hate it. If I can get Platinum in Dark Souls 3, then this is nothing.

It’s a hard read because of how nonsensical it is so far. There is zero effort to make us care for the characters. There is zero effort to make the words flow well. Worldbuilding sure is epic and mythical-esque in some areas. But Idgaf.

Not to mention how there is no attempt to connect with all these characters that we are given. Maybe the emphasis is world-building, and I can start to see that...it's just that there is a question that comes up: how can I care about a world, if the characters moving through it are not given emphasis? I don't care if Whiskeyjack dies, if...who else was it? I don't even know.

When people said this is a hard read, I assumed the language would be cryptic, purposefully misleading, subtle with its worldbuilding...but no...no, no, no. This is hard because it's not cohesively written, and I'm not talking about plot structure, because I don't mind when writers don't follow the traditional storytelling methods. This is just confusing because it is, not because it is profoundly complex yet.