The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids
By Michael McClung
4.5/5 stars
This was a super entertaining fast-paced novel. Part
fantasy, part murder mystery, the entire novel is set in a single city. I found
Amra to be a great protagonist – she’s a thief with a code. A cat burglar
rather than a killer, she still very good in a fight. There are demons, magic,
and a very cool wizard sidekick as well. I thought the writing was very good.
It never bogged down and moved along at a nice clip. I will say that the first
half of the novel was stronger than the second half. The first half the novel
blew me away. Still, it was an excellent read and I highly recommend it. I
think fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora would really enjoy this novel.
Prince of Thorns
By Mark Lawrence
5/5 stars
I’d never read a Mark Lawrence novel before and thought I’d
give this one a shot. I was very confused when I started the book. I thought it
was supposed to be about a prince trying to recover his throne. However as I
read the first chapter it seemed to be about a murderer and rapist. I thought
that maybe I was getting a chapter from the antagonist’s point of view. Then I
started chapter two and it was the same POV from the same villain. I stopped
reading part way through chapter two when the protagonist described a rape he’d
participated in. I thought to myself that there was no way I was going to read
300 pages about this @#$# @#$%$.
If it had been an unknown author, I probably would have
stopped at that point. However, Lawrence as a terrific reputation as an author,
he’s hugely supportive of other authors, and I’d just spent money on a book and
was ticked off that I’d only read a chapter and a half. So I kept reading.
And it kept getting better. And better. And better. As it
turns out there a reason why the protagonist is a murdering @#$#%.
The writing is excellent. The story is engrossing. The world
building is intriguing. Lawrence writes terrific action scenes to top it off.
Be forewarned, the book is very grim and very dark. If you
can get past that, I think you’ll love the novel.
Senlin Ascends
By Josiah Bancroft
5/5 stars
Wonderful. Start to finish a terrific book.
A steampunk fantasy set in an unknown era, the novel follows
bookish Thomas Senlin as he attempts to locate his missing wife in the Tower of
Babel. Each level of the tower is its own unique world that poses new
challenges to the completely ill prepared Senlin.
Senlin Ascends is a super-unique, super-creative work of
fiction. I loved the characters, the writing, and the world. Buy it. It’s
fantastic.
