Book Reviews

[mitchsbookreviews]

From The Blade Itself to the iconic The First Law, Abercrombie has set himself at the forefront of epic dark fantasy. The Devils continues his evolution into a master of dark comedy. I was laughing along with the casts’ ridiculous antics while feeling their anxiety, dread, and sorrow. The Devils has placed itself as my new favorite epic fantasy book. 10/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

I’ve had this book on my shelf for years and had it come up on my Libby recently. I could not get into it. I’ve attempt to read it for 3 weeks and only got 60 pages in. While I don’t feel there is anything particularly bad about the book, it failed to catch my attention. I will likely give it another go, but it is going back to my TBR list. I give priory of the orange tree’s first 60 pages a 6/10.

[mitchsbookreviews]

Saw a recommendation for this and found the audiobook covered under Spotify premium. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality.

The story is based around gender and sexual identity and set in a heavily Confucian/patriarchal Middle Ages China. The MC struggles with her identity of presenting male while foiled against a eunuch.

While the story was interesting and the inner struggles of the MC were compelling,the time jumps were challenging to follow in an audiobook. A strong reading performance boosted my enjoyment. I give the audiobook reading and book combined a 8/10. Despite the quality lowering near the end of the book, I couldn’t set it down.

[mitchsbookreviews]

I was going to review each book separately, but ended up reading all 12 in about two weeks. Cradle is a fun series that follows a general plot of a fish outgrowing its pond and moving into a larger pond. The writing is formulaic, but not bad. Cradle is a sprawling series with multiple power systems that grows in scale from an individual struggle to belong to universe ending threats. The MC reminds me of Tower of God with his internal struggle for acceptance.

Cradle is an easily digestible series that wears its themes visibly. While there are shortcomings and it’s predictable it’s also fun enough to ignore these issues. 8/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

The Spellshop is a comfort read with only minor conflicts focusing on a librarian moving back to her rural village. This book is a straightforward Hallmark story of a woman finding love and family outside the big city. I had some major issues with the MC’s hate of city life and PTSD as a minor plot device. If you want a slice of life romance with low stakes and straightforward writing, this is for you; it isn’t for me. 4/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

The first 6 of these were temporarily free so I picked them up. Unsouled is a short read reminiscent of the Webtoon Nano Machines, but without an overpowered ability taped to the MC. The story focuses on one person with nothing doing anything to find their path. A fun read with no glaring issues but also lacking depth. 7/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

A stirring story about growing up, finding yourself, and finding to love yourself. Wang shows us a reserved conservative society separated from the world and asks what capitulating to patriarchy and society does to a person. Reading it continually reminded me of The Fifth Season. A heart wrenching story that I fully recommend. 9/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

A fun read. The author is inspired by Re:Zero and you can really feel it. The writing is conversational and quippy, but does have moments of sincerity. It’s strikes the tone of a dark comedy the best of any fantasy book I’ve read. A solid 7/10, brought down by the beginning. I’m looking forward to book 2.

[mitchsbookreviews]

Finished book 1 of the powder mage series. I only did audiobook for this one and it made the first half~ pretty rough. By the time it started meaningfully building towards the climax, I was hooked though. Tanis reminds me of The First Law’s Glokta in a fun way, but the series is less dark while still remaining gritty. I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The First Law series, but wanted a little more magic in their setting. A solid 8/10

[mitchsbookreviews]

Just finished book 7 and what a fun series. It really deviates away from the original concept of a video game/western isekai and leans into the relationships. Some of the books struggle with tone shifts, notably book 2, but once the series finds its footing it’s enjoyable. I’d give the overall series an 8/10.