The Well of Ascension | Review

This book had a similar attraction to Game Of Thrones. There was a lot of political intrigue in the foreground but a mysterious mystical element that played a more dangerous and foreboding role. I really enjoyed this aspect, Sanderson made the political fights engaging and you really rooted for Elend, and then the mystery of the Well of Ascension kept you latched on.

The politics were extremely compelling, I like how you dont know if what Elend is doing is for the best or not, you can be unbiased about it and form your own opinion. Its frustrating, yet refreshingly, realistic.

I never got tired of hearing about Kelsier. His loss felt so REAL! Not only emotionally but as a leader with competent abilities. You just keep thinking how much easier this would be if they didn't lose him, but also none of this would be happening if he didn't do what he did to lose him. AND if THAT was even for the best or not.

^^^^THAT is one of the most interesting thoughts to this book. Where as the first book is the Bad guy won and this is how world is. This book is the Good guys win but..is it even worst now? So...did the good guys ever really win?

That was most of the story and plot review, now to some characters:

Breeze had to have been one of my favorite characters after this book. He was so dynamic and we got so much out of him and his life. The scene with him soothing the refugees and pretending he didn't care was beautiful, and his fear about women and not knowing if they truly love him...so sad but it makes so much sense. I cant wait to see what happens with him in the third book!

Oresur (wink wink) is like the dog from Howls Moving castle. Thats what I pictured as he ran around. (although obviously he didnt need help getting around) He had to be one of my favorite characters next to Breeze. His development and his twist just...wow. I almost wanted to immediately reread the book to see if I could notice it!

Elend...just...dang. I cant believe I felt so emotionally connected to his plight. The RAGE I felt after a certain decision, I think i put by book down yelled. "Are you ***** kidding me " Hes great though, I completely understood him because he plays like those games where you can make moral choices. And I ALWAYS pick the good choice even though everyone stabs you in the back or doesn't respect you, you just want to do whats right. Thats Elend.

Last one is a spoiler ***
I could NOT figure out Zane  Is it a plot hole that Cett made it obvious that the assassins weren't his, yet Vin didnt then think Zane was lying to her...? I dont know but he was so devious and annoying, he also didnt realize all the privilege he had, fathers money, atium, kandra, and he still lost. It was so satisfying to see him die by Vin. EVERY advantage she had didn't work against him and she still beat him. so. satisfying!

Highly recommend to those who read the first book. Im so glad to have found this series! I dont think ive read a book this fast this large, 763 pages in 11 days!!

Black Wings Beating | REVIEW

My journey for this book started with its spine. I saw the name in the book store, "Black Wings Beating". Thought thats a pretty cool name. So I picked it up. Saw that cover, Hot DAMN! What a gorgeous cover. Read the flap, really interesting world/ plot idea, LGTB representation. Instant buy for me. And I definitely didnt regret it.

I really enjoyed this book! The two main characters were VERY compelling, I love the siblings bond and actions for each other. My heart ached for Brysen, SO. MUCH. This guy was so relatable and realistic, I think he was VERY well written and hope he comes back in a MAJOR way in the sequel and its not just completely focused on his sisters powers.
I really enjoyed how the book was broken up, switching between sibling perspective with a quick look at the enemy at the end of each perspective.
I also wanna say that I think the author did a good job of having ALOT of avian comparisons or analogies. similes w/e and they fit really well and didnt seem cliched for a book about birds.

My favorite part is the reason WHY the characters are going on this quest. And my hint about it will be in the final sentence of this book.
I LOVE this book, highly recommend!

Everless | Review

I very much liked the beginning of this book. I thought the motivations for the character were compelling and logical (which isnt the norm I feel for YA novels).
I dont really have much to say between the beginning and the end, because that is one of the main reason I didnt care for this book, not a lot happens.
Its a slow pace until the last 100 pages or so when she starts throwing SO much explanation/ twists. Another reason why it got a 3 star is i really didn't care for a lot for the twists or how they were given to us.
I reserve my 3 star reviews for books I dont like, but see the merit in why others may have enjoyed.
The rest of the review is spoilers about how I feel about certain events that happened. 

**SPOILER**
-The Roan and Liam outcome I thought was pretty obvious. Which made how she acted to Roan cringey and Liam down right infuriating. However I did like how Liam did what he did on purpose to protect her. I just think it could have been written better.
-I feel the way she is the "Alchemist" seems a bit convoluted, but still fairly interesting. I did predict that the Alchemist is the "good" guy and sorceress bad.
I thought the Caro twist was just...dumb. I figured she wasnt all she said she was, but I feel like if you reread the book with that knowledge it still wouldn't show. I mean..being Inas servant? Telling her to keep an eye on Roan? Why would the sorceress care about what Roan is doing? I just didnt care for IF Caro was the main bad guy I dont think the author set it up right.
Lastly I really didnt care for the Cliffhanger. It happens so fast its like whiplash. 

The Final Empire | Review

Very happy I finally picked up this book! Ever since I started watching booktubers this series has always come up. One booktuber started doing a read along/ buddy read so I used that as an opportunity to finally start it!

Its great! The cast of characters are spectacular. Growth is clearly seen and can be followed throughout the book. Its so refreshing to be annoyed at a character for their personality at the beginning and then start to like them more and more as the develop to who they should be.
The magic system was very well explained and worked so well!
The plot which is commonly explained as "Oceans Eleven meets Lord of the Rings" is spot on. Once you get to the halfway point i was speeding thru the rest of the book like I was burning pewter! (Well technically I suppose it would be tin, but it was an analogy to moving fast physically so...)
Toward the end SO much happens, and its amazing, but sad, but incredible and DAMMIT I thought I had it figured out but Sanderson STILL managed to get a twist on me I didnt expect.
Slow clap for you Mr Sanderson, slow clap for you.

Highly recommend to anyone who loves an epic fantasy story. And recommend to anyone who is ok with fantasy but loves more character centered stories/plot. This book has it all!

Review| Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring

I started my magical quest with a friend. Over our shared love of the LOTR movies (and yes even the Hobbit movies) we decided to pick up these books and read together. Mostly curious to learn a little more about the world, and compare the differences to the movies.

HUGE DISCLAIMER : This means my review is pretty heavily skewed by comparing it to the movie. Spoiler for the end of the review, however, we liked the movie better.

My biggest problem when reading the books is emotion. As I read I felt like Tolkien didn't write alot of emotion into this book. Actions and moments that happened, quite brilliantly in hindsight, in the film came across flat in the book. Some of my favorites were:
Gandalfs line , "We only choose what to do with the time that is given to us."
When Bilbo leaves and comes up with an ending to his book.
I felt these fell so flat in the book and made me yearn to re watch the beautiful moments of emotion in the film.

Secondly the characters came off a bit strange. Sam comes off as a complete dopey idiot. In the movie its quite endearing, the book hes too in servitude toward Frodo. Dont even get started on Bill the pony! Even if this was Sam's original intention and purpose, watching the movie and seeing the difference cant be unseen.

Lets get to the good!! Its still a wonderful magical world and I loved learning more about it! The part in Lothlorien is a particular favorite! Some of the added details of places is interesting. Pippin and Merry are more competent and interesting in the books which I enjoyed! Where they seem whiny and dumb in the movie (more so pippin than Merry) they are intelligent and helpful in the book. Although I do like their mischievous ways in the movie!
To further add to that point is the bond between them. I liked how Merry and Pippin were Frodos really good friends and helped him.  Lastly my friend and I were shocked to find out how much time passes, where it seems like a week in the movie MANY years have passed in the books.

The book definitly felt slow, a lot of it dragged and sometimes explained too much of what was happening. The final conclusion my friend and I made was how impressed were for Peter Jackson to create what he did out of this book. We're excited to get to the second and third book though where I hear it picks up and there's more action. Plus the bonds between the characters get more focus!

Review | Heir of Ra

Heir of Ra was pretty good. Id say a solid novel, but not spectacular. Id give it three stars for not adding anything too interesting.
The Good: Alyssa is a good competent protagonist. I didnt mind following her and being in her head. The scenes with the back story were well written. She doesn't have flowery writing but the way she describes scenes and actions were top notch!

The Bad: Theres not alot for Egyptian Mythology fans. Although the civilization is talked about and experienced its not very detailed which is what I was hoping for with a book of this cover and title. The second thing that mainly bothered me is one of the side characters, Paul. He sort of just comes out of nowhere and risks his job and life for a girl he just met. Its pretty hard to believe and every scene hes in and does something showing great sacrifice or emotion for Alyssa just feels odd.
Spoiler Like for instance literally jumping in front of a blade for her and be stabbed.

 Whats kind of ridiculous and could have easily fixed this is there is a character at the beginning of the book, Jake, and he easily could have replaced Paul. He is an already established as knowing her and would be more believed to have the deep connection. Lastly is the bad guys, I honestly cant remember the difference between all the bad guys except the female who has purple eyes.

Some last minute thoughts| The TombRaider-lite feel is pretty neat, and it will definitely remind you, or make you want to play Assassin Creed while reading because it can be heavily compared to that series. (A person using her heritage to see visions of the past)

Spoilers for the Ending Twist:
I kinda wasn't feeling the twist. First off shes just announced as a "Daughter of Ra" by one of the random scientist. I dont know why he would know what she is, I dont know why they specify Ra, if Im not mistaken I think Ra is the grandfather of Horus so maybe thats why?(I didnt care to reread to check) Regardless she still wouldn't be the Daughter of Ra then but as the book is titled just an heir of Ra...
Set is randomly in the middle of the book, who is a God himself so I dont know why he was draining other Halfbreeds unless he wasnt one himself..but that wasnt clear.
Lastly they made it clear (I thought) that they needed to CONSTANTLY feed off half breeds blood to stay alive from the curse, but now Alyssas dad is permanently healed? (Im assuming from gene slicing or w/e but I dont know)
Lastly Part 2 | Alyssa basically immediately leaves her dad to go on another adventure even though he almost just died and hasnt even left the hospital yet and she spent the whole book trying to heal him. -_-

Dragon Pearl | Review

This one took me a while to get through. It wasn't too bad but the middle and end dragged so much it really was hard to finish. I liked the often use of her powers and how she used them. Its pretty rare that magical powers are used alot. I just finished a book last month where the main character had illusion powers and she barely used them. It made the book all the more irritating, but Dragon Pearl definitely avoided that.

There are some discussions to have on the book, like how selfish Min was, and how she really had no consequences for any decisions or actions she made. I felt like it could have spent more time on the morality of her choices or how her people were treated. I suppose it is geared more for kids, but to be honest I dont think enough exciting things even happened to recommend to a kid.

Lastly Ill touch on the end, which is really thrown in very quickly. I would say Im dissapointed that there wasnt much elaborated on in the end, but I think I was just happy for it to be over. I would have edited out the middle section and had her rewrite the end.

Id recommend to anyone who has an itch for Chinese mythology and a fan of Riordans books. I gave it 3 stars.