cluckingbell's review
4.0
I received a copy for free through GoodReads’ First Reads.
It was a pretty fun read, and there was a lot that I admired about it. I appreciated that the descriptions of place and people were vivid without being florid. The author gave enough information that I could visualize a person, place, or thing while leaving enough room for interpretation that my imagination never got tripped up by unnecessary and trivial details. Personally, I think that makes for a much richer reading experience.
Maxey’s uncluttered writing style is also great for fights and physical comedy. Some of the latter was downright slapstick, which I’ve seen very few writers pull off. I mean, we’re talking about largely visual humor in a text-based medium—impressive. I guess in a lot of ways the physical humor was tied to character, so maybe that’s why it worked so well. Still, I kept thinking this would make a fun movie. It would take a big budget to do it right as live-action, but maybe we could do an animated version? With Nathan Fillion voicing Stagger, of course.
My reservations mostly stem from plot propulsion and emotional impact, which probably weren’t powerful enough to warrant a full four stars for me, at least as I normally gauge books. But . . . there was enough novelty and interest and fun that I found Greatshadow to be a pleasant surprise. I can open it to almost any page and find something I enjoyed. With that in mind, I'm going to go ahead and round up to four.
It was a pretty fun read, and there was a lot that I admired about it. I appreciated that the descriptions of place and people were vivid without being florid. The author gave enough information that I could visualize a person, place, or thing while leaving enough room for interpretation that my imagination never got tripped up by unnecessary and trivial details. Personally, I think that makes for a much richer reading experience.
Maxey’s uncluttered writing style is also great for fights and physical comedy. Some of the latter was downright slapstick, which I’ve seen very few writers pull off. I mean, we’re talking about largely visual humor in a text-based medium—impressive. I guess in a lot of ways the physical humor was tied to character
Spoiler
(such as when the somewhat prideful Tower, a man who flies around by gripping his “Gloryhammer,” faceplants into a wall in the false matter room—great way to take the 'shining hero' down a notch)My reservations mostly stem from plot propulsion and emotional impact, which probably weren’t powerful enough to warrant a full four stars for me, at least as I normally gauge books. But . . . there was enough novelty and interest and fun that I found Greatshadow to be a pleasant surprise. I can open it to almost any page and find something I enjoyed. With that in mind, I'm going to go ahead and round up to four.
cheeriope's review
5.0
I loved this book! I found it randomly mentioned in a Reddit post about romantic fantasy.
I definitely wouldn't suggest this if you want romantic fantasy, so I feel that person was way off with that suggestion. Yet, I am so happy to have read it.
The magic is fun. It's not like Sanderson where it all makes perfect sense with proper rules but it has some limitations and there are a lot of forms of it. The characters are all likable and interesting, I wanted to read more instead of skim through it.
It's an easy read too. There aren't pages of long ass descriptions of how a mountain looked or how some food tasted. Instead it's action and dialogue and story building all the way through.
I just bought the complete collection so plan to read the rest, but I'll review each book separately.
I definitely wouldn't suggest this if you want romantic fantasy, so I feel that person was way off with that suggestion. Yet, I am so happy to have read it.
The magic is fun. It's not like Sanderson where it all makes perfect sense with proper rules but it has some limitations and there are a lot of forms of it. The characters are all likable and interesting, I wanted to read more instead of skim through it.
It's an easy read too. There aren't pages of long ass descriptions of how a mountain looked or how some food tasted. Instead it's action and dialogue and story building all the way through.
I just bought the complete collection so plan to read the rest, but I'll review each book separately.
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