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iariaThe Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
I liked it overall.
+ My biggest issue was actually a me issue. I got to the horse race and Vasya being revealed and hit a road block. I just could not keep reading. I spent 40 minutes trying to find an in depth summary to find out what happened. If it wasn’t due back in 9 hours I probably would have left it for days. I eventually skipped to the next chapter just to get myself reading again.
+ Vasya irritated me a lot more this book than she did the previous. I still sympathise with her a lot but there were a lot of moment of her not listening to other people, of her demanding things and thinking only of what she wanted and then immediately regretting the consequences. Over and over. It got to be a little aggravating, truth be told. Her running around playing a boy in Moscow and enjoying the attention she was attracting even after being warned by her siblings was the most annoying. It worked in that it made sense for her but it was very self-absorbed, hence annoying.
+ I loved that Masha has the same sight as Vasya and their scenes together were great.
+ I thought Olga forgave Vasya too quickly.
+ I loved Vasya saving the peasant girls and her scenes with Katya, especially when she shared her secret.
+ All the Chyerti were great.
+ I wish Vasya telling her siblings the whole truth had been shown more instead of simply saying she told them so we could have gotten some reactions about things.
+ When Vasya said she wanted all the truth out I thought she was going to reveal the existence of the Chyerti and it would be the start of people believing in them again and they and Christianity would exist together. I hope that's the direction the final book is going in.
The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker
I really enjoyed it, enough so that I was really pleased to learn that this is the first book in a pretty long series.
+ I love Amaranthe. Her ability to talk her way out of situations and manipulate people (not that she would call it that), her ingenuity, the way she never gives up, her morals and desire to be the best she can is all really great. I also really love her little cleaning quirk and the way she can’t seem to help herself.
+ The cast of characters is great as well. Sicarius is my favourite and I already like the potential of Amaranthe/Sicarius.
+ The world-building is interesting and not something I’ve read exactly like this. I like the combination of the old waning warrior empire with the new steampunk female-lead merchants/businesspeople that’s gaining power in the changing world.
+ One of my main issues was that there was not enough female characters full stop. It’s Amaranthe surrounded by men and its super annoying. In fact there are really only 2 other female characters of any significance in the book and it’s not that prominent (and then both die). ): Several of Amaranthe’s little gang could easily have been women. In fact you could easily make Akstyr and Books both women without too much of a change. We already know women are sometimes in gangs (see Misty) so there’s no problem there. I also would have made Sespian female, which again could have been easily done without any significant change. I really hope the next books get better at this because honestly I have a lot less interest and sympathy in media that does the Smurfette Principle.
+ My other big issue was Sespian letting Hollowcrest go. It makes no sense. I literally can’t understand Sespian’s thinking here or why anyone around him wouldn’t have tried to stop him. Hollowcrest was poisoning him and was clearly planning in staying in charge. Why would it seem like a good idea to not only let him go but to let him go with a large force of soldiers loyal to him!??! In the city, no less! He didn’t even have them shipped off or otherwise banished from the empire. He literally just kicked him out of the castle and let him go. … unbelievably stupid, I can’t even. Plus this is a warrior culture, Sespian is not a warrior, Hollowcrest has a lot of loyal officers and even more people see him as someone who conform to their idea of a good leader all of which are even more reasons why Sespian’s choice was so dumb. It bugs me a lot. Especially that no one mentions how dumb a choice it was. Sespian got super lucky that Hollowcrest was distracted by Forge and loyal enough to the Empire that he cared enough to try and fight it’s enemy.
I liked it overall.
+ My biggest issue was actually a me issue. I got to the horse race and Vasya being revealed and hit a road block. I just could not keep reading. I spent 40 minutes trying to find an in depth summary to find out what happened. If it wasn’t due back in 9 hours I probably would have left it for days. I eventually skipped to the next chapter just to get myself reading again.
+ Vasya irritated me a lot more this book than she did the previous. I still sympathise with her a lot but there were a lot of moment of her not listening to other people, of her demanding things and thinking only of what she wanted and then immediately regretting the consequences. Over and over. It got to be a little aggravating, truth be told. Her running around playing a boy in Moscow and enjoying the attention she was attracting even after being warned by her siblings was the most annoying. It worked in that it made sense for her but it was very self-absorbed, hence annoying.
+ I loved that Masha has the same sight as Vasya and their scenes together were great.
+ I thought Olga forgave Vasya too quickly.
+ I loved Vasya saving the peasant girls and her scenes with Katya, especially when she shared her secret.
+ All the Chyerti were great.
+ I wish Vasya telling her siblings the whole truth had been shown more instead of simply saying she told them so we could have gotten some reactions about things.
+ When Vasya said she wanted all the truth out I thought she was going to reveal the existence of the Chyerti and it would be the start of people believing in them again and they and Christianity would exist together. I hope that's the direction the final book is going in.
The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker
I really enjoyed it, enough so that I was really pleased to learn that this is the first book in a pretty long series.
+ I love Amaranthe. Her ability to talk her way out of situations and manipulate people (not that she would call it that), her ingenuity, the way she never gives up, her morals and desire to be the best she can is all really great. I also really love her little cleaning quirk and the way she can’t seem to help herself.
+ The cast of characters is great as well. Sicarius is my favourite and I already like the potential of Amaranthe/Sicarius.
+ The world-building is interesting and not something I’ve read exactly like this. I like the combination of the old waning warrior empire with the new steampunk female-lead merchants/businesspeople that’s gaining power in the changing world.
+ One of my main issues was that there was not enough female characters full stop. It’s Amaranthe surrounded by men and its super annoying. In fact there are really only 2 other female characters of any significance in the book and it’s not that prominent (and then both die). ): Several of Amaranthe’s little gang could easily have been women. In fact you could easily make Akstyr and Books both women without too much of a change. We already know women are sometimes in gangs (see Misty) so there’s no problem there. I also would have made Sespian female, which again could have been easily done without any significant change. I really hope the next books get better at this because honestly I have a lot less interest and sympathy in media that does the Smurfette Principle.
+ My other big issue was Sespian letting Hollowcrest go. It makes no sense. I literally can’t understand Sespian’s thinking here or why anyone around him wouldn’t have tried to stop him. Hollowcrest was poisoning him and was clearly planning in staying in charge. Why would it seem like a good idea to not only let him go but to let him go with a large force of soldiers loyal to him!??! In the city, no less! He didn’t even have them shipped off or otherwise banished from the empire. He literally just kicked him out of the castle and let him go. … unbelievably stupid, I can’t even. Plus this is a warrior culture, Sespian is not a warrior, Hollowcrest has a lot of loyal officers and even more people see him as someone who conform to their idea of a good leader all of which are even more reasons why Sespian’s choice was so dumb. It bugs me a lot. Especially that no one mentions how dumb a choice it was. Sespian got super lucky that Hollowcrest was distracted by Forge and loyal enough to the Empire that he cared enough to try and fight it’s enemy.
