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nielsm's review against another edition
1.0
Doesn't grate like nearly as much as a certain Chicago based wizard, but at the same time completely unmemorable.
litwrite's review against another edition
3.0
While I admire Ducie's talent and he obviously has great ideas, I felt this book was overly frenetic and had some intense pacing issues. There was just too much crammed in to such a short novel and there was a lot of showing rather than telling that could have been handled better with say, another hundred extra pages of padding (Declan's love for Tad, for instance, and the love triangle with Clare, felt really forced to me because we didn't really see any of what happens between the three).
This is like the little brother to [a:Jim C. Hines|172490|Jim C. Hines|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1348840639p2/172490.jpg]'s excellent [b:Libriomancer|12844699|Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris, #1)|Jim C. Hines|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1318277038s/12844699.jpg|17995680] - similar, if slightly differently handled ideas of drawing from books as a source of weaponry, and disgraced heroes who struggle to make things right. Hines, however, shows his experience as a novelist with a much stronger and full picture of his world building. Ducie is good but I think still young and it shows in his style - it's like a sledgehammer to the face when a good strong jab would have done the job.
This is like the little brother to [a:Jim C. Hines|172490|Jim C. Hines|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1348840639p2/172490.jpg]'s excellent [b:Libriomancer|12844699|Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris, #1)|Jim C. Hines|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1318277038s/12844699.jpg|17995680] - similar, if slightly differently handled ideas of drawing from books as a source of weaponry, and disgraced heroes who struggle to make things right. Hines, however, shows his experience as a novelist with a much stronger and full picture of his world building. Ducie is good but I think still young and it shows in his style - it's like a sledgehammer to the face when a good strong jab would have done the job.
garlongreeves's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the novel, and I liked the concept of the Story Thread.....that particularly well envisioned books have spawned actual mini-universes in the greater cosmos that some talented people are able to visit, or utilize in some way to affect actual physical beings. People with enough Will are able to quite literally delve into a good book; I did wish that the concept was employed more, and hope that the author utilizes it more in the future.
The only drawback that I had with the book is that a fair amount of important imagery was not detailed enough. It is possible that the Degredation and the Void are meant to be abstract concepts that simply cannot be conveyed well, but I did get the impression that both the protagonist (and the author) had a clear picture of what they looked like, however, I could not wrap my head around them. Well, the Void, I can envision, based on similar uses of that concept, but, as far as I can tell, the Degredation could have simply been the Nothing from "The Neverending Story".
All in all, an exciting, pleasant read, and I look forward to the continuation.
The only drawback that I had with the book is that a fair amount of important imagery was not detailed enough. It is possible that the Degredation and the Void are meant to be abstract concepts that simply cannot be conveyed well, but I did get the impression that both the protagonist (and the author) had a clear picture of what they looked like, however, I could not wrap my head around them. Well, the Void, I can envision, based on similar uses of that concept, but, as far as I can tell, the Degredation could have simply been the Nothing from "The Neverending Story".
All in all, an exciting, pleasant read, and I look forward to the continuation.
ekfmef's review against another edition
2.0
I desperately wanted to love this book but unfortunately I couldn't. Others have already said it: we never really get to know the characters and the story kind of jumps all over the place. I really love Joe's fanfiction and it was really nice to see some of those settings return, but now it read like a slightly different Dresden novel. Let's hope that part 2 is better!
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