After Transcendence, I was ready to dive into Immortalis and see the story to its conclusion. Not because I wanted it to be over, but because seeing all the pieces fall into place and interact in a unique way is what I like most of this kind of novel. In this case, while I liked how everything ended, I felt like there were pieces left at the end that didn’t quite fit.
As usual, I’ll provide some details after the jump. Continue reading Immortalis
With Ascendance out of the way, I was actually looking forward to reading Transcendence. Where Ascendance had mostly characters I didn’t much like, even Transcendence’s villain was interesting to read about. Between this and my planned travel, this book went very fast – I finished it within a week of starting it.
I’ll provide a few more thoughts, after the jump. Continue reading Transcendence
Between Riverworld novels, I decided I would give a shot to a selection of DemonWars short stories that I picked up from StoryBundle. If you’ve been reading this blog a bit, you’ll know that I quite like the DemonWars saga, so this little collection was quite a treat – especially since I didn’t know it existed beforehand.
These three stories were a nice addition to my collection, but I wouldn’t really consider them required reading for a DemonWars reader – my short analysis after the jump. Continue reading The Education of Brother Thaddius and Other Tales of DemonWars
While I wasn’t initially planning on listening to the Second DemonWars Trilogy, I found myself listening to Ascendance when next I got a chance. The reason that there’s a hesitance for me in picking it up is really that the Second DemonWars Trilogy is really a different kind of story compared to the first, one that, though I enjoy the telling, I’m not sure I enjoy the story quite as much.
Ascendance, in particular though, was a bit difficult for me to get through – and that’s something I’ll discuss after the jump. Continue reading Ascendance
I recently finished Dark Designs, the next Riverworld novel. Of the three I’ve read thus far, this one is far and away the best – primarily because it keeps things moving in the middle. There’s a lot going on in this book, and while there are certainly spoilers below, I’ll be looking at it more in broad strokes. Continue reading Dark Designs
While I was on travel, and just before I got the flu for a week (hence, no blogging), I finished Mortalis, the “bridge” novel between the two Demonwars Trilogies. This book is my favorite part of the Demonwars saga, and one of my favorite fantasy novels in general. This is because of the range of emotions that it evokes, and, even though it has something of a complex plot, it has a simple message, and one that I appreciate.
I’ll be spoiling that after the jump. Continue reading Mortalis
Hot on the heels of finishing The Demon Spirit, I finished up The Demon Apostle by R. A. Salvatore. Of the three books in the main trilogy, I like the character beats in The Demon Apostle the best, though some character beats were better than others.
Spoilers after the jump. Continue reading The Demon Apostle
On my trip downRiver, I finished The Magnificent Riverboat, the next book in the Riverworld series. This volume covered the story of Samuel Clemens and his building of an electric riverboat to travel upRiver to the source of the river. I think Samuel Clemens moral compass made it a bit easier for me to be invested in the middle parts of the book (compared to Richard Burton), but this one was still a bit slow reading – details after the jump. Continue reading The Magnificent Riverboat
I’ve been trying to work through my assembly backlog lately, and while doing so, I decided to listen to R. A. Salvatore’s The Demon Spirit – the second book in the Demonwars Trilogy. This was a good experience, and gave me the chance to do two things at once in a way that wasn’t distracting. Overall, I enjoyed this leg of the journey, but it’s probably my least favorite book of the trilogy, primarily because it is so dark.
Probable spoilers after the jump. Continue reading The Demon Spirit
I recently finished the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer. I haven’t read much in the way of Farmer before this, but I really enjoyed The Dungeon (inspired and edited by Farmer), and now I better understand the inspiration. At a high level, I enjoyed the book – it presents a very interesting situation and ideas. On the other hand, it failed to keep me engaged at certain points, which occasionally made it a bit longer of a read than I would have liked. Continue reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go