Fantasy

74th book of 2019. Not disappointing. Picking up a beloved childhood series as an adult can be a gamble. It’s like rewatching films in high definition, and flaws that were buffed out in the haze of memory become glaringly apparent, while sometimes the author, out of ideas, ends up recycling the b-side plots into endless books of dwindling quality. Exhibit A: the Ender’s Game series. It was a compelling first book, and even first series, but once Card started to get into geopolitics, a lot of questionable racism came out, discrediting the entire series in my mind. ...

64th Book of 2019: Disappointingly Bland. I’ve been on a hot streak of fantasy this year, really enjoying The Raven Tower, as well as Foundryside, and even releases that didn’t hit all the right notes were very enjoyable, such as the Priory of the Orange Tree and Middlegame had redeeming qualities that made them enjoyable. Over the course of a lifetime, I’ve read plenty of bad fantasy (hello Eragon), and this book deserves to be thrown in that bin. ...

63rd book of 2019. I judged this book by its cover. With Middlegame as the title and birthday-cake hand on the cover, I assumed this novel was about modern divorce in the mid-west or something equally boring. But after reading Raven’s Tower, I was ready for more fantasy, and the AI gods of book recommendation algorithms (combined with a 4+ rating on goodreads) brought me here. None to soon, I got a cold last week, and read through in a few groggy days. ...

59th book of 2019. I liked the two main characters Iad and Tane, didn’t really like the secondary characters, and didn’t like the plot. Throughout the entire book, the plot felt like special effects with the wrong lighting and color. The rules of the magic seemed arbitrary, the politics of the kingdom felt simplified, and the religious reconciliations played out in a wish-fulfillment scenario of world peace. Maybe it just felt like things tied up too neatly in the end, and maybe I’m just too used to fantasy like George RR Martin such that other things start to feel fake.

The premise was great, and the focus on everyday Medieval life was fascinating, but I disliked every single character from the future timeline (i.e. just about all the main characters). They kept acting in dumbfounding ways, such that by the time I was halfway through I was rooting for reality to win and one of them to die due to their mistakes. Alas it never happened, and I lost interest about 2/3 of the way through.

Who would have though that the best criticism of social media I’ve found could come from a fantasy book? “Every innovation—technological, sociological, or otherwise—begins as a crusade, organizes itself into a practical business, and then, over time, degrades into common exploitation. This is simply the life cycle of how human ingenuity manifests in the material world." Two chapters in, and I was hooked. Tevanne felt like a well explained magic city, with a shadow version of machine learning serving as the magic creating a believable template for the action. I was excited to learn about the city and the plot kept me turning pages. ...

The only thing that seemed unique to me in the book was the plot twist about 20% of the way through. So short that there’s no harm in picking it up, but nothing that sticks with me.

My favorite scalzi book to date. Really liked the premise and the characters. The ending seemed a bit of a disappointment, but it was a fun ride to get there. Will continue this series.

Didn’t get the hype. A pretty standard retelling of norse myths, felt kinda like reading a short story textbook more than anything else.

A rousing collection of faux-history wikipedia entries and tax policy musings, interwoven with a gossip column and dragons. I really enjoyed it.