Anything good about Jalav is undermined by inconsistent characterization (a grevious sin in a character-driven novel), terrible plotting, and about 300 pages of rape apologism. Rape apologism is inexcusable. If only the content of the book were more like the cover art.

Can't say jm enjoying the book (it's too late to turn back!) but I am enjoying hammock + blanket + hojicha this almost-wintery day.

After the prologue, The Wizard's Shadow struggled for a while before finding its feet. While it never reaches perfection, it kept me happy and eagerly reading, and really drove home that a book need not be perfect to be a story worth reading. As Susan Dexter is from the same part of the world as me (Western Pennsylvania), I managed to snag a signed copy from the local used bookstore.

Too banally goofy for the average adult, but maybe too crisp in its writing for the average child, this book left something to be desired. That something is not the art, however. The gorgeous illustrations are by Erik Blegvad, and they're alone worth the purchase of this collection of dragon-themed short stories.

Anthropological--even ethnological--at its core, this is a wonderful adventure story with interesting and relatable characters and an addictively intriguing premise. I already loved Marta Randall, but now I'm smitten. Don't judge this book by its cover.

Oh no

"Dancer pushed herself up to a standing position with both hands on the arms of her chair."

I know average writing advice demonizes adverbs, but exessive prepositional phrases are the real enemy.

It's funny the little differences you spot when reading old books. Like, a character is looking at a map, and notices that one country bulges to one side. And I am not nearly mature enough because I just giggled and realized that no one uses the word "bulge" anymore.

I enjoyed the dueling dystopian worlds, but felt the tension and structure of the protagonist's world was a little off kilter. Like, a big piece of the story is kids being sent off on an Ordeal--a harrowing challenge that kills many of them. I expected that to tie back into the plot in a bigger way than it did, which made the conclusion feel a little flat. Still a good book, though.

The fact that this book is about psychics who view any desire for solitude (mentally, spatially) as aberrant is giving me hives. I need a solid 14 hours of solitude a day.

I knew I wouldnt like this book, but I couldn't have guessed just how much. Much of this book tries to spin abusive men into complicated but sympathetic, well meaning characters. Gross. And this sham is poorly carried to fruition with a scope that gets too big to manage and obnoxiously coy writing that obscures information from the reader but none of the characters, so you feel constantly out of the loop. Boooo.

That feeling when you're reading books so obscure they're not in the Litsy catalog.

Twentieth century bandits are the worst kind, child

The cover has animals, two-by-two marching into a UFO. I did not expect it to be as good as it is. I also did not expect for it to be absolutely horrifying. WTF.

I mean, I know I'm a wimp, but I guess I'm not sleeping tonight until I get to the bottom of whatever's going on in this book.

On a work trip, sitting at the bar in a fancy little Italian place, reading a good book. Ahhh, perfection.

After too many lackluster books in a row, I'm really enjoying this cozy-mystery/fantasy. In a kingdom of charming folks, the fresh-out-of-school royal wizard must determine who is using black magic to harm the king. It's solidly written, fun, and somehow just a perfect summer read.

Matthews does hard sci-fi well, and even though the setting--a torture school--was unpleasant, I found the deep connection to the characters fascinating. It was so easy to see the slippery slope where they found comfort. Then, completely out of the blue, the kind-hearted protagonist becomes aroused while torturing a prisoner. It felt strongly out of character and, as a squeamish person, I knew I could no longer stomach the story.

Aaaand I've reached the point of the book where the author is aroused by torture. Hoo boy, I am out.

What a relaxing venue to read a book about psychologically tricking a kind-hearted individual into being a diligent and skilled torturer. 💀

The climax/ending of this book is completely detached from the protagonists and the vast majority of the story. The characters feel one-dimensional and experience no growth. The Dark are powerful verging on invincible, which makes it hard to feel invested in humanity's quest to fight back. I normally adore Barbara Hambly, but I am deeply dissatisfied with this book/series.

10 pages left and I'd rather watch my husband play video games than finish reading the book.

I'm on page 11 of a straight-up lecture detailing the great intrigue of the series. Seriously, I've read two books almost exclusively to learn this information, and it's delivered via hard exposition and historical chronicalling. I'm dyyyying.

I have a problem.

Aside from a second copy of An Alien Light to loan out (because I seriously freaking loved that book) every other one of these is new. And written by a woman.

I am struggling. Characters move through emotional development at break-neck speed while the plot remains roughly untouched since book one: insurmountable monsters have destroyed civilization but even though we have no leads or ideas maaaaybe we can find a way to fight back.

A robot with a sophisticated AI runs for president. It felt more like reading a book about a sociopath than it did about a robot.

Written in the 1950s, it's oozing with casual racism and sexism, and in our bizarro world satire such as the “The Committee for a Beautiful Minnesota“ simply being a coalition of mining corps falls flat because it's too close to reality.

There is almost nothing I liked about this book. Do not recommend.

I love Barbara Hambly, but I thought books 1 and 2 of the Dawath Trilogy were lackluster. Let's see what the finale does for my appreciation of this series.