I don't know what Feist was going for here.
592840
I have loved everything Feist has written until now. As I am 75% finished with this book I have learned a very poor economics lesson and that the character Roo is a terrible person. From other reviews I see that this book could have been skipped completely without hurting the story line and I would have saved $5.
592965
I've read this book and I'm not sure if it was because of all the times I was interrupted or what, but I just did not get it. I got parts of it, but there were parts that I was just asking myself "what?". I mean with a lot of the clues I think I can piece together a majority of the story, but I still have questions. I am still scratching my head about the baby.

Maybe since this isn't my usual genre, I missed a few key puzzle pieces, I'm not sure. However, I did finish the book. I liked the writing style and most of the characters. The feud between Mother and Miss Bunce was ridiculous and Mother going around saying "Father Wilfred would have..." definitely deserved a few slappings. I would have liked to get a few in myself. That woman got on my last nerve.

I'm giving the author an extra star because I don't think it was his fault I didn't understand it all because I did enjoy it for the most part. Thanks to HMH and Net Galley for allowing me to read this for free in exchange for an honest review.
1274539
Not really what you would expect from a book with this title.  Don't really know what the guy was getting at.  I guess we'll never know now.
1968373
I'm actually wondering whether or not I read the same book that others read.

Lorraine- I'm so confused as to how a woman who walked away with a 250,000.00 check lived in poverty, she had no other children to care for and she'd previously been working without having to pay for rent, utilities or food! Plus, it was stated in the novel that she was paid well, and that Adele had spoiled her daughter with clothing, etc. Bottom line, why was this woman so broke? You can buy a nice home in TX for 150,000 cash. She could have put 50,000 away for her daughter to inherit when she came of age or went off to college, and invested, saved, and lived off the rest. And what did she do with her salary from the past six year of making "good money" as a nanny??

Stephon- I couldn't understand the anger toward him from Olivia. He'd flown down for NY to be with her, he'd not wanted to break up with her in the first place, and then he'd offered to allow her to live with him when she lost everything she had. It takes having sex once to get a woman pregnant. Babies happen daily, I couldn't understand her cruelty to someone who proved loyal to her? What did I miss?

I felt the author failed to make this story un-realistic. She wanted us to hate Adele and I felt sorry for her from the beginning. She wanted us to pity Bernard but he seemed s***ty from the start.
You mean to tell me that in the 30 years that Bernard had been married, he couldn't have saved at least a million a year from his salary so that he could break free from his wife? 30 million dollars is not chump change and that's without interest. The story made no sense, based on the facts of the story and the personalities of the characters, the outcomes did not match.
It was a terrible read, there's more to say, but I believe I've said enough
718173
A bit esoteric for me I am embarrassed to admit. I am afraid that the truth is, I did not know what the heck he was talking about half of the time.
2109948
I have no idea what's going on in this book,though I spent great fortune on it. I just want to figure out what exactly it is that makes so many people buy this book
3138302
I first fell in love with Feist's work in the Serpent War saga (and went back to read all previous work) and have since come to the conclusion that Feist may have peaked then.  I suspect personal issues, such as his divorce, have leeched some of his focus and drive to create the depth of character that marked his earlier work.

As others have noted, there seems to be a lot of interaction that has no obvious purpose other than to fill pages.  Usually these interactions weave the ambience of the world into the story but it seems somewhat artificial in this novel.  Having Kaspar run through what amounts to little more than a Who's Who directory of Midkemia had too forced a feel - did every previous character from the earlier novels still alive just have to be involved?  It left things feeling rushed, not the usual buildup seen over a series of books. Things also seemed too coincidental (as the main character Kaspar pointed out several times) and made the story seemed contrived, almost formulaic.

It's kind of a weird placement for the book as well.  A trilogy that changes main characters?  The third book in this series is really only loosely associated with the first two and serves as the introduction to a new series, its part of both series while being part of neither.  The effect leaves me feeling unfulfilled on the finale of Conclave of Shadows but less than enthusiastic about the next series.  The story is just kind of 'there'.  I think it would have been better to simply make this the first book of the Darkwar Saga and leave Conclave of Shadows a two book series.

That being said, it is a Feist work and even some of his lesser work is better than most author's best.  If you've read any of Fiest's earlier novels, you know you're going to read this one because a trip through Midkemia with Feist as your guide is too good an oportunity to pass up.  Here's hoping the Darkwar series will see a complete return of Feist's storytelling.
1836850
I don't know about this one. I didn't feel like it was as good as I Love My White Shoes. I like how it counts by two however. The clues it gave were confusing.
1350847
I'm so confused right now. I'm not entirely sure what I just read. It started off fantastic but went rogue very quickly.
3953201
Words can't even describe the let down with this situation
4910840
I'm not even sure what just happened...This book wasn't for me. The author seemed more concerned about putting one off while reading his book that and I the reader couldn't enjoy.
1385375
I dunno, but I didn't come away from this volume feeling that I understood what the editors understood by New Weird despite the reams of discussion material added to the end of the book that included some heated interchanges.

And this from a book avowedly about explaining and defining the genre. Heck, it has an Origins collection of stories as it's first part and finishes with lengthy essays and internet chatroom logs all about "what is New Weird?"

The book fails (for me) to define, explain or designate the New Weird. I have no yardstick to say "these are the New Weird tropes that define a story as New Weird rather than Gothic Horror, Steampunk or SF". Which is OK; I've been buying books for almost five decades without the need for such a yardstick, but *this* book seems to sell itself as a serious attempt to make that yardstick.

Four stars for the stories.
4026908
Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this book. Fade to Blue is an off-beat, confusing read, and I'm pretty sure it's meant to be. Parts of the story find Sophie and Kenny questioning their sanity, and as I read this, I found myself wondering if I was going crazy, as well. The book is that difficult to follow, but at the same time I found myself wanting to find out just what in the world was going on!

For the sake of being up front, this is the strangest book I've read all year. (And possibly the most frustrating.) The plot feels like it is all over the place, yet it is obviously intricately written. It is as if the story is going forwards and then backwards again. The characters are all pretty quirky, and various names and brands sound suspiciously like names and brands we are familiar with, yet often they convey something else.

I should probably note that Fade to Blue is not a graphic novel, though the cover art suggests it may be. However, the story does revolve around comic books--well, one in particular... I can't say that this is a book for everyone, but I think that readers who like books that are out there and off-beat will enjoy this one. While not one of my favorite reads, I can appreciate what Beaudoin was working to achieve with Fade to Blue.
4516794
As a person who has never read any books or seen any films about The Phantom of the Opera, Masque of the Swan is a book that had me mystified and anxious through the entire story. It begins with the heroine Caralisa whom we're told, is an orphan living in a boarding school. The time setting is never told, so we're left to assume one according to the clothes the characters are described wearing which leads me to think around the 1500's, as this book has a lot of religious overtures which were quite common back then. She has no dowry and her godfather won't let her go out in Larissa society, so she is left behind only with her hopes and dreams. Caralisa can hear the songs of the wind, and she interprets them when she's by herself until one night, a masked man finds her singing and dancing by herself. He introduces himself as the Count of Samothrace, enigmatic and aloof, he proceeds to take her to a masquerade where she meets two men: one a cavalier with dubious intentions, and a young beautiful marquis who expresses his undying love for her. She runs away from both men with the help of Samothrace, and is soon pursued by the marquis in hopes of learning her name and place of residence to ask for her hand in marriage. Events occur that lead to the excommunication of Caralisa and the Church, threatened to be killed by a hired assassin, raped by a mad man, and is constantly rescued by a large black swan whom she dubs 'Lancelot'.

[SOME SPOILERS ALERT]

 I find that Count Samothrace was certainly the only reason I continued to read the book, otherwise I would've given up before I even read the third chapter. As most stories go, this one moved a bit slow, however, halfway through the book it began to show more development and the tension between Caralisa and Samothrace is blatant. The fact that the Marquis fell in love with Caralisa when she had a mask and a costume on the entire time was unbelievable, but we're later told that, apart from being a shallow man/character, the marquis only loves beautiful things so I suppose it makes sense that he would want Caralisa. What I didn't understand was the love between Samothrace and the heroine. I felt she was a tad shallow, and undeserving of his love, but then again this could simply be me being jealous of a made up character :p. All in all, I rate this a 5/5 because of Samothrace's character, the swan 'Lancelot', the story behind these beautiful creatures and the way the author put it all together. I always enjoy books with gracious creatures be them dragons, elves mermaids or swans so of course this book won me over.
76094
Kinda weird but so is the whole series.  I didn't get it until the end when I realized we were just entering into the life of a very different and quirky individual.  Interesting character developed by Rothfuss.  I still don't know if I liked it or not but I still think about it so I guess it was a good read.
371045
I really like Mindy Kaling, but I have absolutely no idea what this book was about.  I've listened to Tina Fey's "Bossypants" and enjoyed it since it takes us through her life, but Kaling's book didn't necessarily follow a similar pattern.  Rather, it was a conglomeration of essays about random experiences in her life.  There a few laugh out loud moments, and I enjoyed the inflection in her cute voice that could only result from her reading the book herself (I listened to the audio). But I didn't really get it. No matter, she's still hilarious and is someone who's career I'll continue to watch.
1361892
Seems to me to be a read that does not flow well, and again seems too self centered. I didn't get the impression that this book was about joy, or God or really anything all that spiritual. To me, it was about the author himself.

I couldn't help but feel that this book is another cash cow, so to speak. The book did not do for me what the conver implied it would.