Why I read it: My brother loves Sanderson's books. When I told my brother the author would be signing at a couple local-ish spots in June as a heads up for him, he said he'd only go if I went. Not wanting to go into the signing without ever having read something of Sanderson's, I opted for the book he's promoting with this tour.
Mini-review: Slow start isn't a bad thing. In this case, it was. The book dragged for the first 100 pages or so. It picked up after that and I did finish the book. I never could quite reconcile the modern-sounding language with the Victorian-era alternate-Earth setting. It actually took me probably half the book to sort out this was an alternate history rather than a post-apocalyptic setting. (Dense, me?) I honestly thought it was something like Hunger Games where a cataclysmic seismic event had fractured the North American continent and we'd reverted to Latin names for everything. The story itself was intriguing but the ending was a let-down.
Final review: Thumbs sideways. Intriguing premise but in the end not my cup of tea, I guess.
Why I read them: My brother loves the series. Thought I'd give it a try.
Mini-review: As with Sanderson's book, the premise is intriguing. But in the end, the style and genre just aren't my cup. All the side characters felt very flat and often times I found the plots too convoluted for sanity. I did laugh at many parts, mostly just little one-liners here and there. That said, I haven't fallen in love with Harry Dresden enough to take the plunge on the further series.
I found that Dresden was actually a better read by the time you get to book 5 on. The other characters start to stand out more, the plots are more cohesive. And the premises are just fun.
ReplyDeleteI have caught on that it's an alternate history, but I'm past the 100 page mark and am still thinking... okay.. when is something going to happen!! Enough with the circles already!
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