Some things that I read that I don’t like.
Trail of Lightning
Rebecca Roanhorse
I wanted to like this book so badly. It’s post apocalyptic fantasy drawing on Native American myth, and the world itself is awesome. I couldn’t get past the writing though. Your protagonist can only “shiver but not from the cold” so many times before I start to want to light the book on fire. I could maybe have gotten past that for a cool plot or characters, but the protagonist would score somewhere slightly above a rock on an IQ test. If you measured her emotional maturity she would score slightly below. Not in an interesting, ‘she’ll grow as a character’ way either.
A Darker Shade of Magic
V. E. Schwab
Another book with a great premise. There are four Londons, each with their own amounts of magic, that can be visited by a small number of powerful mages, and the book follows one such mage as he travels between Red London, Grey London and White London. The writing is fine, though in the fight scenes the author’s blocking is REALLY bad. But the plot does not make any sense. I know getting too upset about plotholes is sort of my thing, but most of the events of the book are just there so the story can happen.
Reaper Man
Terry Pratchett
I don’t know why I picked this up, I suppose I was in a Terry Pratchett mood. One of the weakest Discworld novels I’ve ever read. If you’re familiar with Discworld, read one of the other zillion books. If you’re not familiar with Discworld and want to read a series where fantasy Catch 22 had a baby with an upbeat kaleidoscope go read Guards Guards or Mort instead.
Deus ad Machina 