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luana420 's review for:
The Craft Sequence: The First Five Novels
by Max Gladstone
It ain't you, Gladstone, it's me.
This had been sitting on the Kindle shelf a few years, an impulse buy after thoroughly enjoying Empress of Forever back in 2020. The pitch was irresistible: a world where magic was so infused into daily life, mages had become the equivalent of bureaucrats, lawyers, and city planners. Five stand-alone novels? Give 'em to me!
In those four years, I expanded my horizons somewhat, and it was about a fifth of the way through the first one, Three Parts Dead, that I kind of understood the vibe: a YA Perdido Street Station. Okay, cool!
By the time I got to the final book of the collection, Four Roads Cross (a direct sequel to the first book's storyline in the city of Alt Coulumb), I was saying "It's YA Perdido Street Station... shit."
Two of the five novels (the Dresediel Lex storyline, comprising of "Two Serpents Rise" and its sequel "Last First Snow") weren't as successful for me, which seems to be the general tenor among the fandom, while a third ("Full Fathom Five") was a stand-alone in a different setting, requiring some time to get into it.
By the time I got back around to the Alt Coulomb storyline, my interest (and the grace I had been extending its modern authorial voice) was running on fumes, to the point where it was almost a mercy to be done with it.
It sounds like I absolutely hated it, and I want to state that I didn't: it's a pacey, snappy read, and the setting is very creative.
Put it like this: when I watch Reacher, I feel like I'm watching a Conan show in spirit, smuggled into a package that will reach a modern general audience. Reading the Craft sequence, I feel like I'm watching a CBS sexy doctors/lawyers/prosecutors show that happens to have magic and creatures in it. Ain't nothing wrong with that, just that I wasn't fully prepared, and I probably would have had a better time if I'd just read the first book.
Ohh, here's actually another one that's perhaps more apt/damning (depending on where you stand): do you want an un-problematic HP replacement for a slightly older audience? I think this series is probably a good bet!
This had been sitting on the Kindle shelf a few years, an impulse buy after thoroughly enjoying Empress of Forever back in 2020. The pitch was irresistible: a world where magic was so infused into daily life, mages had become the equivalent of bureaucrats, lawyers, and city planners. Five stand-alone novels? Give 'em to me!
In those four years, I expanded my horizons somewhat, and it was about a fifth of the way through the first one, Three Parts Dead, that I kind of understood the vibe: a YA Perdido Street Station. Okay, cool!
By the time I got to the final book of the collection, Four Roads Cross (a direct sequel to the first book's storyline in the city of Alt Coulumb), I was saying "It's YA Perdido Street Station... shit."
Two of the five novels (the Dresediel Lex storyline, comprising of "Two Serpents Rise" and its sequel "Last First Snow") weren't as successful for me, which seems to be the general tenor among the fandom, while a third ("Full Fathom Five") was a stand-alone in a different setting, requiring some time to get into it.
By the time I got back around to the Alt Coulomb storyline, my interest (and the grace I had been extending its modern authorial voice) was running on fumes, to the point where it was almost a mercy to be done with it.
It sounds like I absolutely hated it, and I want to state that I didn't: it's a pacey, snappy read, and the setting is very creative.
Put it like this: when I watch Reacher, I feel like I'm watching a Conan show in spirit, smuggled into a package that will reach a modern general audience. Reading the Craft sequence, I feel like I'm watching a CBS sexy doctors/lawyers/prosecutors show that happens to have magic and creatures in it. Ain't nothing wrong with that, just that I wasn't fully prepared, and I probably would have had a better time if I'd just read the first book.
Ohh, here's actually another one that's perhaps more apt/damning (depending on where you stand): do you want an un-problematic HP replacement for a slightly older audience? I think this series is probably a good bet!