sknep

Bit too short.

Revisado: 06-24-23

Between the author's overly long introduction and 40 mins of preview of the next book, this story is less than an hour, or approximately only half the listed runtime.

If it was still free, I wouldn't have minded. I think most of the reviews are from the first few months while this was a promo.

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yuck!

Revisado: 06-08-23

old "examples" full of absolutist statements like every and all and nobody. no original research. just anecdotes and references to well-known names and popular brands with no depth. returning

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you can stop at hour 4

Revisado: 06-02-23

not a bad premise, but too many anecdotes that arrive at the same conclusions. too little talk about actually developing your own range.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

engaging story but problematic themes

Revisado: 08-30-21

I love a well-narrated book, and Kate Redding takes this rather predictable story to it's limit. The author attempts to circumscribe modern hot-button issues of colonialism, privilege, and eurocentrism by making up new proper names for places (Africa is "Ariga", Arabic is "Achian", though I am guessing at the spelling). I love a bit of world building but in every aspect but name, these are obviously modelled in detail after our real-life civilizations and cultures, down to the Adam's rib origin story of the protagonist's faith. Despite all the modern discussion on WASP harm across the globe, this author makes no effort to approach the cultural issues that the protagonist encounters regularly with any sort of introspection. It's white girl lit for white girls who want to imagine the world has it out for them. I had hoped when I started that the author was using these cultural pseudonyms to do something inventive, to challenge some beliefs and imagine what it would be like to discover new fields of science and experience new cultures from an alternate perspective (which is to say, something other than clearly British colonialism). Instead it's written as though the only truly oppressed people are white ladies of a certain social status who don't get whatever recognition from older white men they think they deserve. It's tragic that the author did so little with such an opportunity, and this series won't stand the test of time against modern works like NK Jemisen's.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Ok to Skip, you won't miss much

Revisado: 08-10-20

Having read the series through to the book following this one, I can tell you it doesn't add anything you might miss in the future. As other reviews have mentioned, it follows the two male apprentices through their crash courses in magic school and military boot camp, sacrificing much of Tyndall's character development in favor of Rondal's. As usual, the sexist, chauvinistic themes of this series can be quite cringe-inducing for those with the ears to listen. A book that follows teenage boys around unsupervised is unsurprisingly the worst of the series so far. Depending on your opinion of age of consent, this book has a pedophilic streak that I could have easily done without, culminating in a softcore three-way between juveniles. If that seems abrupt and unsavory to you now, it's nearly as awkwardly hamfisted when you encounter it in the plot.

Here's the relevant story in a sentence, so you can skip it without loss: The already competitive boys go off to school/boot camp, bicker the whole time, improve remarkably in a few weeks, then become best friends and found a fraternity.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Inconsistent name pronunciations between books

Revisado: 08-10-20

Although I like the narrator, I wish they were consistent between books. Certain names sound different than before. Sir FES-dar-in became Sir Fes-DAR-in, Lance of Boon became Lance of Byoon, etc. Its a little annoying when listening to the books back to back, though I realize they were recorded years apart.

As usual, the main character's pervasive sexism, evidenced in his description of every woman and of his own desires, gets old and makes me wish male authors didn't feel they had such a license for gratuitous objectification of every female character. I keep listening for the lore and the reading performance.

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better than others, smugly pro-European

Revisado: 06-21-20

Wish it had more descriptions about the mechanisms of tools like pumps, sewing machines, etc, rather than leaning on the expertise of pre-fall "handyman" types to maintain machinery. Chemistry sections are interesting but truly hard to follow without diagrams. These sections would be much more successful as a video series. Overall, this book is far more useful than the similarly titled "How to Invent Everything" by Ryan North. Unfortunately, the commentary on current technological advancement is rooted in a very "Western" perspective; the discouragingly brief descriptions of African and Asian civilizations and technologies (both current and throughout history) seemed needlessly dismissive or patronizing. Book would be of less help to those stranded below the equator or east of Europe.

love this narrator, who I immediately recognized from the Spellmonger series.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

non stop teenage masterbation

Revisado: 05-31-20

main character is constantly talking about or touching his junk, which is referred to by a bunch of stupid euphemisms. Like Clan of the Cave Bear but even more juvenile. just awful

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esto le resultó útil a 12 personas

Doesn't live up to the Mistborn trilogy

Revisado: 07-10-19

Disappointed, hoped for more, a bigger story and more character development. Predictable and flat instead.

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Very thick southern accent, distracting

Revisado: 11-21-16

I can see how it would be comforting to some but I kept having to think about the word sounds. Also this author is anthropomorphizing the "gremlin" far more than is necessary for a metaphor. If you've been in Evangelical circles before, replace "gremlin" with "demon" and you've heard everything thus book has to say.

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