Assorted Reviews #1

[alaterdate]

Been busy, busy, busy this past month (even with the extra day)! So I haven't had a chance to read much or post. So here's a little wrap-up post on what I read in February.

The Stolen Throne written by David Gaider is the first Dragon Age novel of 5. The events depicted occur around 30 years before the first game begins (timeline is wonky 🙄). It's not great. The book is so long and it was really difficult to get into it because the writing was so bland. There's really only one chapter that I really loved (when they went to the Deep Roads). Gaider was not good at writing scenes in this book unless it had to do with direct character interaction. There was great dialogue and character arcs, but the events drag on and hardly matter. The end doesn't even get resolved within the book and is instead told in expository fashion in the epilogue. You go through all those pages and words just for it to be like "they won. The end." Skipping a much looked forward to battle and a duel that actually ended the entire plot of the book. Also, Gaider has a long track record of saying things that make you go 😬 yikes. So I can't say I was a huge fan of this book, but I love the Dragon Age series so I read it.

Beowulf by Unknown translated by Burton Raffel I remember my sister had to read this in high school and she kept telling me how much she hated it. I think she may have read a more difficult translation back then. I never read Beowulf until this year, but somehow I already knew everything that happened (I may have watched a youtube video about it on one of my binges lol). I liked it. The translation was poetic and clear.

Emperor: The Field of Swords by Conn Iggulden 3/5 in the Emperor series. My man Conn has done it again. I can't believe I forgot how much I like his writing and put off reading this book for so long! The relationship between Brutus and Julius is being ripped at the seams by now. (Getting close to that first tasty, tasty betrayal I've been looking forward to.) I love how Julius is so wrapped up in his own machinations he really takes everyone for granted, but then will just pop in with a "you know I need you, Brutus" and drag him all over the world. The parts in Spain and Gaul were great as their own parts, but in the bigger picture of things I was bored. Iggulden had to include them because it's what Julius was up to, but imo the pace is bogged down. AND he already mashed some stuff together to pick up the pace. Book 5 is still my favorite so far, Octavian really grows into his own in that book and I love it. But I still have book 4 to read.