en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:57:17 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9343610496 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:57:17 -0700 /review/show/7512721950 Globe wants to read Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII by John Cornwell
]]> ReadStatus9343588375 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:51:12 -0700 /review/show/7512706566 Globe wants to read The Pope Who Would Be King: The Exile of Pius IX and the Emergence of Modern Europe by David I. Kertzer
]]> ReadStatus9324704296 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:53:48 -0700 /review/show/7499548058 Globe wants to read Five Go Off to Camp by Enid Blyton
]]> ReadStatus9324704172 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:53:45 -0700 /review/show/7499547963 Globe wants to read Five on Kirrin Island Again by Enid Blyton
]]> ReadStatus9317165969 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:20:35 -0700 /review/show/7494346591 Globe wants to read Conquistador by S.M. Stirling
]]> ReadStatus9317158845 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:18:16 -0700 /review/show/7494341672 Globe wants to read East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman
]]> ReadStatus9317154853 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:17:02 -0700 /review/show/7494339011 Globe wants to read Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card
]]> ReadStatus9231944895 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:23:55 -0700 /review/show/7435029833 Globe wants to read The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller
]]> Review7312599732 Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:18:10 -0800 /review/show/7312599732 Globe gave 5 stars to Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
It is difficult to truly know where to start when reviewing Oathbringer. I won’t do justice to the epic of a story written here- or rather what to me is three epic books combined together into one epic tome. The nature of the Stormlight Archives makes it kinda impossible to review like a regular book, there is deep deep expansive lore, extensive character studies and just so much going on - it’s overwhelming. I’ve supplemented my reading of this book by listening to a first time reader podcast that does a chapter by chapter review. However I’m on the second book of the podcast which has allowed me to remember things that happened in the last book and understand the lore much better.

I will therefore review my experience of reading this book and provide basic over-arching thoughts.
I enjoyed every bit of this book from beginning to the end. There was never really a point where I felt a lull- every chapter was either vibrant, fun, interesting, exhilarating, foreboding, or suspenseful. There was a drastic change in terms of the setting in this book which I felt added a lot of life and energy into the story. But beyond that, Sanderson has replicated again the feeling I had when I went from WoK to WoR - everything expanded.
The story became faster paced, huge developments occurred, more characters were introduced, more mysteries. I attributed it a lot with the fact that the story in WoR is so much l bigger and complex than WoK, which was basically 700 pages of Kalidan moping in a desert. I hadn’t been a fan of Kal’s backstory and was more of a Shallan fan, which is partly what I attributed to why I enjoyed WoR so much more,. However this novel has shown me that it isn’t because of the Shallan bias, but this (for nothing else) epic that he’s written here - is utterly breathtaking and dizzying. There’s so much to see, so much to experience, so much to understand.
This book does a lot of roundup of information we know in pieces, but puts it together and fills the gaps. It helps to fill the confusion. But there are some major major reveals of lore and information that any ordinary fantasy series would have left to the final book. Some of the reveals are so casually written, I found myself pausing and re reading several times. There is one particular reveal in the last third, all will know what I’m referring to, which left me utterly breathless. How I viewed everything completely changed.
This book is as visual as the previous two. Beyond the fact that Roshar is a colourful world with its coloured eyes, coloured wines, and ofc the coloured gemstones filled with stormlight. Reading it was a visual treat to the mind, as I could see everything happening in such vivid detail, thanks to Sanderson easy writing style and narrative.
If I’m to give any critique of this, beyond it being such a huge book, it’s that Sanderson I feel has pushed the story to its limits. It’s very bloated, very extensive and is doing a lot of things. Well. But I fear if he pushes this any further, expands the cast of characters more, I think some PoVs will start to suffer in terms of character development. He’s down some great character work here. I would urge caution.

Finally my favourite 5 character list:

Pattern
Shallan
Lift
Taravangian
Syll


]]> ReadStatus9043889887 Sat, 08 Feb 2025 16:15:34 -0800 /review/show/7303432377 Globe wants to read Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
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