Half a War by Joe Abercrombie - 2 stars
Recap: Father Yarvi's vendetta continues, this time enveloping a young princess Skara.
Review: I just did not enjoy this book as much as the first two. There were huge plot jumps and I lost count of the number of times Skara swallowed her acid vomit. The favourite characters from earlier books were there but pale shadows of their former selves. The love interest for Skara was pointless as she just shrugged him off and nothing came of the attempted tension build so why bother? The final chapter wrap up felt like a dotting i's and crossing t's exercise while Father Yarvi's reveal fell flat. A disappointing finish to the trilogy.
Checking Out by T.W.M Ashford - 4 stars
Recap: George Webber checks in to Le Petit Monde with a specific agenda, but things don't quite go to plan.
Review: A fast-paced time and dimensions adventure with some dubious moral decisions made along the way. Certain things we expect to happen do but with some twists and unexpected results. I have some theories and whilst the ending seemed a little abrupt, there is plenty of food for thought on what might happen next. George is not a massively likeable character although you do have sympathy for him. I'm intrigued, surely the universe won't let him get away with it!
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut - 3 stars
Recap: the story of time traveller Billy Pilgrim.
Review: what an odd tale. Clearly anti-war but with a random, hardly connected to narrator. The time jumps resonate more with dementia than time travelling aliens yet there is sympathy for lost Billy who cannot cling to anything except the certainty of his death. So it goes.
The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman - 5 stars
Recap: Irene Winters and her Dragon assistant Kai must determine whether another librarian is colluding with dragons and risking the impartiality of the Library.
Review: Book 4 is back on top form. Plus dragons! There are thinly veiled suggestions that the Library is far more nefarious than Irene believes plus the throwaway comment about Irene being adopted feels like it's there for future books and doesn't feel fully explored. Fun world building as always and good interplay between the characters. The end sequence at first filled me with sadness then not as 'it' finally happened! No spoilers here though lol.
Akrad's Children by Jeanette O'Hagan - 5 stars
Recap: Dinnis, Ista and Mannock - all children of Akrad, are brought together although only one will be the next Kapok. There's intrigue and plots, latent powers and political ambition - all good ingredients in a fantasy saga!
Review: Excellent world building with a well-defined system of governance, established races and a hinted at magical system. The characters are believable right down to their nobility arrogance. Some foreshadowing of possible things to come in the next book so yay, next book!
Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.
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