Series I read / am reading: Incryptid, Shadow & Bone, Throne of Glass
Thoughts:
I‘ve finished the 10 books of the Incryptid series I got from a recent bundle. (And a bunch of novellas at the end of the later books)
While I find them enjoyable overall, I have some beef with the author re-explaining the whole world and plot in every single book.
The story is about a family of cryptozoologist conservationists who battle against the evil Covenant of St George who want to eradicate all cryptids. The stories are told through various members of the family. I actually found some of the later ones most enjoyable if only it was a little less on the nose. I am used to Malazan not even bothering to tell me the name of the character speaking. I don‘t need the plot of book1 regurgitated 9 times.
Also I had a bit of a difficult time with the focus of the female characters on the size of their breasts. Especially Annie the younger sister when she mentions how her older sister was always envious of her bigger breasts. (There is a point in mentioning this here)
I think overall I prefer the author‘s October Daye series but that one has been a while maybe she did the same re-explaining there and I just didn‘t notice.
Next I had planned to read the Shadow & Bone trilogy after we had watched the Netflix series. I had previously read the Six of Crows duology set in the same universe but later which I loved because of the great characters—who also make an appearance in the Netflix show giving me hope that they will make a season about the big heists from those books.
These are fantasy YA books is set in a steampunk/magic world somewhere in Sibiria (or at least all the names are Russian-adjacent) and the story about a young girl who turns out to be the chosen one and goes to magic school only to find out that the guy calling himself the Darkling is really evil. She is caught in a never-ending love-quadrangle and saves the world. The end. It‘s really one of the better ones of this ilk even if the start is a little … bumpy. I was just confused throughout the whole story because the Netflix show changed a bunch of things (and made things cooler). And then there is the scene where she muses how her breasts are too small. That one stood out I think there are probably more breast-musings in there … what is it with female authors these days?
Next I began a reread of Throne of Glass (I was going to do a bookclub with the teenage daughters of my friends, trying to get them to read things in English, but they just don‘t have the language grasp yet to read those books fast enough. Sarah J Maas is a favorite of theirs)—I just finished the first book. Young girl was famous assassin who got caught and is now freed to go to a tournament to become the king‘s champion. It has it all: love triangle, chosen one, training to be champion is almost like school, emo-prince, breast musings and the final thought is „when am I getting my first salary so I can go on a clothes shopping spree?“
One big critique I had way back and still have about this book: the author chose to go with 3rd person perspective and sometimes changes that perspective within the paragraph. It is incredibly confusing and i have no idea how an editor could let this pass. I hope it gets better with the sequels—last time I bowed out at book #4. Let‘s see how far I get this time.
I enjoy reading these books but the breast musings… are weird. It‘s almost as bad as „she walked boobily down the stairs“. I have never noticed a male author letting a male protagonist go on about his … pecs that way.
PS after throne of glass, I will definitely go back to reading some SF books.
