Interesting concepts. Wish it had been executed a little better.
924644
The cover of this book is adorned with a glowing blurb written by Steven Erikson. Erikson says that Glen Cook single handedly changed fantasy with this series.

 The story follows a group of mercenaries that go by the name of The Black Company. This group of cutthroats will kill for the highest bidder, but there is a strong sense of loyalty, honor, and brotherhood among the men of the company. The novel is told from the first person viewpoint of Croaker, the company's doctor and annalist. He tells the story of how the black company goes from a cushy city job under a weak ruler, to helping the most evil woman in all the land squash a rebellion.

Fantasy so often focuses on those in power. The main characters, many times, are princes or kings or powerful magicians or generals. These are the men (or women) that send out the grunts to do their dirty work while they stay out of the battle and plot. It is refreshing reading a novel about the grunts. There are no larger than life characters in the company. Just soldiers who kill whomever they are commanded to kill, and in between fighting they joke and gamble and try to make the most out of their existence.

This was one of the series that paved the way for our modern grimdark era of fantasy. Glen Cook showed that it was okay to focus on s***ty people. You didn't have to have some farm boy who finds a magic sword and defeats the evil lord. In Cook's world, pretty much everyone is evil in some way. The Lady is pure evil. The Company serves The Lady and kills on her behalf. Even the rebels, the ones who fight for equality and justice, are schemers and selfish opportunists.

So, from a literary standpoint, this novel is great.

My problem is that I didn't really care about what was happening. There is little depth to the characters. You hardly ever learn anything about their pasts. Cook doesn't show you why the characters act like they do. Aside from Croaker and Raven (and there isn't a whole lot of depth there, either) there just isn't a great deal of complexity. Coming from reading Mystic River, where the characters were sooo well developed and you understood exactly why they acted how they did, the characters in this novel felt a bit flat.

And since I didn't really care (and let me say that I don't have to like a character to care about them. They just have to interest me enough to where I give a s*** about their fate.) about the characters, I didn't really care about the story they were caught up in.

The writing style was also very minimal and choppy. I understood why--Croaker only writes down what he feels is important to the company's history (which might explain the lack of development of the side characters). Sometimes time jumps forward weeks from paragraph to paragraph. In one paragraph, the Black Company will be in a city, and then in the next paragraph they're in a completely different city and it's been three weeks since what happened in the previous paragraph.

All in all, I enjoyed it. I was never chomping at the bit to see what happened next, but I was never bored, either. I'll probably read the next one.
2293474
I love the premise of the Affinities  social groups whose membership is determined by scientific methods, sort of like social media on steroids.  Wilson is an excellent writer and crafts interesting, readable sentences.  Its too bad that there aren't any likable characters and the dialogue is pretty wooden.  It think it would have been fantastic with some more compelling relationships and characters I could sympathize with.  Everyone had a creepy edge and in the end I didn't trust anyone.  Great idea, could have used better execution.
2558069
While the story line was innovative, some of the technical details threw me off along with some illogical actions.  Overall though, its not a bad read with good pacing.
1799991
World's Apart has a unique and interesting plot line that was predictable at times, but also had a few events that caught me completely by surprise.  Pip and Piper live in different worlds, but by jumping worlds in a way that is reminiscent to the Time Travel's Wife, they become close friends. As Piper's world becomes engulfed in tragedy it is up to Pip to do what she can to help.

My biggest complaint is that this book really could have used an editor. Conversation doesn't flow and it needs help with sentence structure and word repetition.  While the jumping from world to world is clearly marked, when the time jumps in the current world it is not and can lead to confusion.

I felt like this was an extremely interesting story that had potential, but ultimately the mediocre execution left it hard to read at times, especially the first half of the story. With that said, the ending was interesting enough that I would like to read the sequel. Hopefully, now that the author has one novel under her belt the writing will improve as she continues.
4396133
Interesting subject matter with a unique viewpoint and perspective. I just wish the quality of the author'so writing skills were slightly better.
2294227
Michael Blumlein is clearly a very intelligent and creative writer. This book paints an interesting picture of a world where healers are second class citizens. The problem, however, is that the picture isn't very deep.

Blumlein falls into the habit early in the book of waiting until the last possible moment to explain a new term he's using. Yes, it's interesting that there are Unerrants and Orts and melis and musk, but it would have been MORE interesting if he explained it the first time he mentioned it rather than forcing me to reread the chapter.

He also tends to misuse pronouns, especially in dialog, (When you say "she said", tell me which SHE said it!) leading to confusing passages for the reader.

As for the ending, rather than finding it grand or mythical, I found it rather nonsensical and weird.

The concept of this book is very good and well thought out, however the excecution of it leaves something to be desired.
2301106
I liked the book overall.  It did keep my interest, but I felt there were a lot of ideas and story lines going on at once.  Less ideas more developed may have worked better.
4506885
Once you get past the initial concept, the book gets redundant. Some of the solutions provided aren't quite a clever as the authors think. But the initial research and overall concept are interesting and useful.
2625249
I read this on Kindle Unlimited, so I did not pay for it. The author's concept was very helpful, a tough-love approach, and, for someone deeply intrenched in the "body-positivity" movement, a refreshing perspective. That being said, his whole premise is easily conveyed within the first few chapters and I found the bulk of the book to be redundant, a drawn out sales pitch of sorts. The writing was less than stellar, it could use some professional editing. All in all, I really appreciated the concept and the approach, that made it worth my time and, if you can look past the style and grammar, worth yours too.
987173
I enjoyed the excerpts that were provided by the authors at [...]  The book was a great concept, and the story line was good, though the dialouge could have been better.  I think I will buy the second book when it comes out and see how the story progeresses.
4094412
This was an interesting read. The storyline was sporadic mimicking the memory issues and loss of temporal awareness in head trauma patients. I wish there had been more detail in many ways because some areas of the plot could have used more imagery. The ending is also more lifelike because it ends a chapter of his life, but it also left so many things unanswered and unclear. After contemplating, I appreciate this approach, because let's face it, how often does life have clear and concise endings? If you want a thinking book this is one for you.
1892584
I really liked the premise of this book-it was a fresh idea in the post-apocalyptic field; a refreshing break from zombies, EMPs, and nuclear war.  However, I felt that the characters could have used a bit more depth (especially Harry and Jack-they just came across as jerky at times) and some parts of the book felt rushed.  Still, the first 3/4 of the book was not bad at all, and flaws can be overlooked with an interesting and engaging story.

And then it happened.  They left the farm.  The series of events that followed leading up to a completely bewildering and most unsatisfying ending since I was five and dropped my ice cream cone in the dirt.  A promising 3.5 star book dropped right down to. 5 stars.  I'm glad I borrowed this book from the Lending Library and did not pay for it, as now I can finally replace my ice cream cone.
2946126
Interesting premise...not sure about all the execution, however.  The big reveal is a bit disappointing - and not as surprising as it should have been.  However the idea of "What would everyone do if everyone stopped dying" was an interesting one and I found some of the avenues and reactions to such news, interesting.
3199587
I enjoyed the concept of the book; good story line.  The errors, though threw me off a little.  I'll read the next one.
121954
Interesting concept.  I can see how it would work.  Author is a little bit 'out there' at times, but the concept is strong.
3619155
Nice concept but not very well executed. The author claimed to have a new take on the Gospel In The Stars but mostly asserted some interpretations without proving them.
3777869
I really loved the idea of teaching children imagery and breathing techniques to deal with emotional issues, such a great skill to share with them at a young age.  I really liked this book because of that, however the writing did not always resonate well with me.  At times I felt like it would not capture the attention of the child, and perhaps needed a bit of tweaking and a little more imagination.  I do commend the authors for a fantastic concept and it's not that I wouldn't recommend it-just a bit of tuning up.