[pat5150]

Finished Firstborn last week and will write my review in the near future. Some of the best stuff in the series thus far, but also some of the worse cases of West totally losing herself in pointless extraneous plotlines.

[Abyss]

This is me, almost tempted to read another book in the series.

Almost.

[amphibian]

pat5150, on 21 April 2023 - 01:51 PM, said:

Sorry Quick Tidal, totally forgot about the Sacred Hunt duology. But as far as I can tell, most fans consider them West's weakest books and don't recommend that newbies start with them. Do you feel the same way.

Personally, and I know your mileage may vary in the end, I still doubt that starting with Jewel's origin story and that of her den can reel readers in the way The Broken Crown and its sequels will. Jewel is just one part of the Sun Sword, and not the best part. At least for me.

But to anyone about to start, or considering starting, the Sun Sword or the House War books, keep in mind that it's like reading Gardens of the Moon. Lots of things don't make sense and it takes a while for them to start making sense. Which is why I believe that Malazan fans will find a lot to love about Michelle West. Because we know how to buckle up and trust the author. Anyone who needs to be spoon-fed information and needs a plot to move in a straightforward fashion will never get into either Erikson or West.

I'm 30% of the way through Broken Crown. It's painfully 1997 and not particularly well written. I'm willing to trust people here and keep going, yet this is clunky to the point of "I have no idea how a publisher got a full series order in on this entry".

Even with the pick up of interesting things later in the book, there's no way starting with Broken Crown is a better on ramp than starting with Jewel.

[pat5150]

Stick with it and you'll be rewarded with some good stuff.

Wrote my review for Firstborn and I've officially had it with the den and wish for most of them, Finch and Teller in particular, to die. Won't happen, but a man can dream. Here's a link to the review if anyone is interested:

http://fantasyhotlis.../firstborn.html

Will bring War on my trip to Asia next month, so I'll discover how it all ends. It's bound to be good. My next West books will be the Sacred Hunt duology, for there is no way I can endure another 2000+ pages featuring the den at the moment.

[amphibian]

Sun Sword Book 1 is extremely rough to get through in the modern age. I don't think the Annagarian stage needed to take as long as it did while being as unclear as it was early on (especially the Widan stuff).

Book 2 was an improvement, moving along quicker, yet there's still clunky moments.

Working on Book 3.

I am glad I read the beginning half of the House War books earlier because I would not have had faith West/Sagara would get better unless I read those to experience the better writing.

[pat5150]

Just returned from Asia and recently finished War, final volume in the House War series.

Meh is about the most enthusiastic response I can offer you guys. I now understand why interest among readers dwindled with each new installment and why most of them didn't reach the end.

Too bad, for there is a lot of good stuff found in these books. But you have to sift through so many pointless extraneous plotlines to get to them that it's easy to lose interest.

Review to come. . .

[pat5150]

My review is up: https://fantasyhotli...024/02/war.html

War could be the most lackluster fantasy finale I've ever read.

And for the record, now that I've reached the end, I can say with certainty that you don't need to read the first three House War books in order to enjoy/follow the last five. Everything you need to know keeps being repeated in basically every single book, so there's that.

But most fans seem to agree that the first three are the best House War novels, so you might want to read them first after all.

Personally, I'll steer well clear of them for the time being, because reading more about Jewel and her den might drive me to commit suicide. When next I read something by Michelle West, it will be the Sacred Hunt duology.

[amphibian]

I finished The Shining Court. It wasn't great - mostly because Sagara/West keeps introducing demons and then having them get bumped off without much ado or have them do things that get almost immediately get thwarted.

I couldn't understand the "Congress" scene at all because the same people just moved meeting venues and had the same conversation. What was the point of that?

That being said - the Road stuff was great and the Voyani working together was alright.

Kallandras reads like a Mary Sue at times and so does Diora. Neither of them have been shown onscreen as earning the brilliant instincts they always have in every situation. It's a bit annoying.

Still going forward with Sea of Sorrows - I'm about a third of the way through it.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 27 February 2024 - 03:38 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

I mean, having the characters repeat things ad infinitum is a staple of her work...

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 26 February 2024 - 06:34 PM, said:

I mean, having the characters repeat things ad infinitum is a staple of her work...

:headthump:
:headthump:
:headthump:

[amphibian]

Finished The Sea of Sorrows. It's again another frustrating experience for me.

The action scenes in the desert could be some of the best - if West didn't mostly grind to a halt the "have several things happen at once" thing that's all over this book. I understand what she's going for, but the execution isn't working right. The action scenes instead become something more like glimpses of action in between memories that go on far too long instead action scenes heightened by the brief remembrance of something in the past.

This is four books into the main series. Each one has had considerable stylistic and writing choices that grind the book reading experience to a near halt. I am someone who loves challenging reading and I read very quickly - I'm on the Malazan forums! And it's a major chore to get through this interesting series because the author won't or can't intersperse storylines well or have half of the major characters be Mary Sues or figure out how to have characters bond in ways that aren't "Person A is rude to Person B and they trauma bond".

Given how bad Shining Court was - it's Crossroads of Twilight level bad - I may drop this series if Riven Shield doesn't pick up. There's not enough oomph to the series either in a people talk interesting to each other way or people do interesting things way.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 11 March 2024 - 05:24 AM

[pat5150]

For me, Sea of Sorrows was the best book of the series.

You can really feel the end coming in The Riven Shield, so hopefully you'll find that one more to your liking.

[champ]

pat5150, on 25 February 2024 - 08:53 PM, said:

My review is up: https://fantasyhotli...024/02/war.html

War could be the most lackluster fantasy finale I've ever read.

And for the record, now that I've reached the end, I can say with certainty that you don't need to read the first three House War books in order to enjoy/follow the last five. Everything you need to know keeps being repeated in basically every single book, so there's that.

But most fans seem to agree that the first three are the best House War novels, so you might want to read them first after all.

Personally, I'll steer well clear of them for the time being, because reading more about Jewel and her den might drive me to commit suicide. When next I read something by Michelle West, it will be the Sacred Hunt duology.

Interesting to know, thanks for the review, Pat.

Full of faith with the series with lines like: This book just might be the most lackluster fantasy finale I've ever read.

[pat5150]

Why West went ahead and so of "sabotaged" all the important scenes that brought not one but two series to culmination, I'll never know.

Will still read the Sacred Hunt duology and will tackled the new one at some point because I'm invested enough in the greater scheme of things, but I'm not in any hurry to do so at the moment.