Brandon Sanderson sure knows how to write a unique magic system! I had heard this one was a stand-alone and I didn’t really want to spend much time beBrandon Sanderson sure knows how to write a unique magic system! I had heard this one was a stand-alone and I didn’t really want to spend much time becoming invested in too many books in a series right now. So I thought I would pick it up on audio. I was not disappointed! Well, it wasn’t quite a 5 star for me either, but I will go into that…
Two sisters, one of whom destined to marry the God-King and carry his child. The other, the least favourite of the children, the cheeky and defiant one. When the time comes and their father has to send his firstborn daughter, he decides to send the other one in her stead. And thus he sets in motion a series of events that could lead to the downfall of his entire people.
I LOVED the audio version of this. I thought the narrator was just perfect and I really enjoyed her portrayal of the characters. It was a long, yet enthralling audiobook that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
There were some AWESOME twists and turns in this book. I was at the edge of my seat for a few of them. I actually screamed in the car when one particular truth was revealed.
However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending. The twist there just seemed a little too much. It took down the enjoyment for me a bit. It was like eating too much chocolate and feeling a bit off and wishing you could have taken back those last few pieces, back to when it was perfectly satisfying.
But I still really enjoyed it.
It didn’t feel like a stand-alone. So when I realised that it was number 1 in the series and there were more to come, maybe… eventually!?? Well, I felt a bit deflated.
So I have not read the stormlight archives yet and I hear that this one is a great one to read before delving into that series. I loved Mistborn so we will see how we go.
The magic system in this one was so unique and interesting. At first, when you read about it you are wondering what on earth is going on, but after getting used to it – it was really fascinating. I wonder how Sanderson comes up with this stuff.
Overall a great read, lots (if not one too many) twists and turns. I would have preferred SLIGHTLY more romance, but that’s just me.
Alright. I am three books down of Octavia Butler’s now. And I am enthralled with her writing! I am also three books into this ser4.5 Stars Rounded up.
Alright. I am three books down of Octavia Butler’s now. And I am enthralled with her writing! I am also three books into this series now - and I absolutely love it!
Bleak, desperate, depressing but so utterly UTTERLY readable! Clay’s Ark is the third installment in the Patternist series, This read is not for the faint-hearted. It starts off being compelling, but by the end – it is violent, aggressive, and had some events that if I had known about it before I started reading – would have turned me completely off reading the book. But Butler was a master at her craft. She made the cringe-worthy topics totally, captivatingly part of the story. They weren’t in there just to shock, although they did shock. She reached a line that she never quite crossed and showcased her brilliant storytelling.
An alien invasion. In the not-so-distant future, a family is abducted from a stretch of highway and taken to an isolated community. The people are acting really strangely, they seem to have super-human strength and abilities, and their children are far from human.
I listened to the audio version of this and he was a fantastic narrator. While the first two books of this series (chronologically, not in publication order) dealt with female protagonists, this one was a mix.
I just could not turn this one-off. From the first chapter, you get taken away into the story and its interesting characters, with a bit of horror-filled tension slowly allowing the story to unravel and the truth to be revealed.
I don’t want to go much further into analysing this one. I liked it a lot more than the second one, Mind of My Mind, but I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I did Wild Seed.
Overall though, a fantastic series so far. I can’t wait to see what the last one is like!
I had heard of Octavia Butler before – I'd heard of books like kindred and the parable of the sower. But I had never heard of this series, The PatternI had heard of Octavia Butler before – I'd heard of books like kindred and the parable of the sower. But I had never heard of this series, The Patternist. And I didn’t know what to expect at all. I didn’t even really read the plot of this one. I knew it was a prequel to The Patternist – which is some sort of dystopian sci-fi. Everyone raves about Butler’s writing and prose, and when I saw a recent review of one of the later books in this series it sounded fascinating so I thought I would pick this up and try the audio version. I have been in a bit of a reading slump, I tried a few audiobooks I couldn’t get into – So I started listening to this one while hanging out the washing last week. AND OH MY GOODNESS! I couldn’t turn it off!
From the very first section of the book, I was utterly enthralled. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be along for the ride.
Doro is an immortal being who jumps from body to body and lives for thousands of years. Anyanwu is also powerful, she can heal herself and shapeshift at will. When Doro finds Anyanwo in Nigeria and convinces her to travel with him she assumes she will be his wife and live in a new colony of people that he has created with special gifts. However, she soon comes to realise that she has been coerced into being a breeder for Doro’s ultimate goal of breeding a race of humans with amazing powers that will overrun the world.
How have I not read anything from Octavia Butler before? Just incredible! I adored how she wrote this one and I am hoping that all her other stories are written as flawlessly! I don’t know quite how to describe it. While other authors write stories, she weaves ideas and plot together in such an amazing seemless way. There was a point of the book where it hit me that she has just given me a big lesson in ethics and humanity. But not just delivered the lesson to me, but made me FEEL it. Made me actually FEEL the themes that she delves into.
And the audiobook! Absolutely fantastic! I would say the BEST female narrator I have ever heard (and I have over 300 titles in my library!). Her portrayal of all the characters was absolutely superb. I was gripped on to every single word and character.
Yes, parts of it were slower-moving, but I have not been able to stop thinking about this novel since I finished it! It has been a very long time that a book has moved me so much, in such an amazing way.
I would not recommend it if you are in the mood for a light read. There are some dark, bleak themes in these pages. What is humanity? Why do we do the things that we do? We live, breed and die. Is that all that we do? Is this all that we are leaving in our wake? What would happen if we could live forever – Would we view the world as Doro? Or as Anyanwu? Butler makes you consciously wonder what on earth the point of all of this is. But at the same time, captivate you with the world’s beauty. I have never read anything like this.
Doro. I loathe him but at the same time – what a magnificent character! How lonely it must be to live millennia, all alone. With nothing else to do but try and manipulate the future through advancing the human race. What would any of us do in his place?
My gosh, my brain hurts. I am thinking about things I have never even considered before. And FEELING it at a level that I never knew existed before this book. Eugenics and morality. Hope and despair. Humanity and the meaning of life.
How have I never read anything of Butlers before now? This was written BEFORE I WAS BORN and yet is so pressing to the events of today’s world.
I absolutely cannot wait to read more of her work. I have so much to catch up on! I am going straight on to the second in the Patternmaster series after Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind.
I really enjoyed this little book by this best-friend author duo! I think it is my favourite one of theirs yet! Even enjoyed it m4.5 Stars rounded up.
I really enjoyed this little book by this best-friend author duo! I think it is my favourite one of theirs yet! Even enjoyed it more than The Unhoneymooners!
Single-mum Jess is going through the motions. She adores her daughter but deep down would love to find a love connection. When she and her best friend get the opportunity to join a genetics dating site, which matches you based on your genetic profile, she finds a match. Unfortunately, she knows this match, and she is not happy about it! However once the company gives her the opportunity to get to know him (and pay her for it), she might find that maybe there is something to this genetics thing after all!
Great read. I devoured it in a night and thought it was fantastic!
The tension between Jess and River was palpable, I loved the relationships between Jess and her daughter, her family and her mother. There wasn’t much I didn’t like about this book!
It really made me wonder if there is something to this genetics thing. I wonder how much research has been done into this and if there is anything to it! Wondering what score my husband and I would get! I also think it would have a downside though. If you are with an average scoring partner, would you wonder what else was out there? If there were people with higher scores? Is it better not to know?
All these questions are explored in the book and I thought it was done so well. I just thought it was great!
If you enjoy a good rom-com and like a few statistics, I have no doubt you will enjoy this too!
This book was featured in my December book haul which can be found HERE
Ohhh I think I have found a new addiction!!!
This is the first Abercrombie book This book was featured in my December book haul which can be found HERE
Ohhh I think I have found a new addiction!!!
This is the first Abercrombie book I have read and I am SO HAPPY to have a whole bunch more to read after this! This book was an absolute DELIGHT! SO MUCH FUN!
So I didn’t even really know what “grimdark” was when I first started reading this, and I still don’t quite understand it – Violent, dark worlds where people are lucky to live till their 30th birthday, and characters you often love suddenly getting beheaded seems to be the definition in the google searches. Worlds that you would NOT like to live in! Like Game of Thrones. And I certainly would prefer our crazy world to that of the First Law series, that’s for sure!
Although it is MUCH darker, I see resemblances to The Lord of the Rings in this tale. I guess it’s like a much more modern version of the Fellowship of the Ring… Characters coming together towards an ultimate quest. But that’s probably where the similarities end. It is much more violent and bloody, but has less monsters and no trolls.. As yet… And it is WAYYYY easier to read and didn’t put me to sleep once! Abercrombie seems to rely on character development rather than meticulous detail about the world, and my gosh! It works!
The world that Abercrombie has made is well explained, but it is also left a little to the readers imagination. And I LOVED that!
I didn’t appreciate that there was no map. I love a map in high fantasy – just so I can wrap my head around where people are from and where they are going. However, just doing a google search this minute I discovered there are a TON of fan-maps. Perhaps I could have looked at one of them! ...more
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