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A review by mackle13
The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding
4.0
3.5
This series has maintained a pretty consistent quality overall - it's enjoyable and entertaining. Not great, but definitely worth the read. It has a sort of Firefly with magic vibe to it - and it kept this vibe throughout the series, but it got better after the first book because it felt less forced and the characters started to come more into their own.
It shifts perspectives throughout the stories, from each of the crew and a few others, but it never gets really hard to follow and none of the perspectives outstay their welcome. If anything, there are a few which could probably stand to linger a bit longer. (On that note, I'd like to see more of Samandra, as she became one of my favorite characters in the series, and I really enjoy her and Crake together.)
One of my favorite moments from the book is with Samandra and Frey and Bess. (Need to get lines from the book.)
And I'll even say that this book improved on one of my main issues from the last book - which was that the action was overly detailed and I felt like more attention was being paid to the specifics of every action which made it difficult to get caught up in the feel of the moment. This book was much better in that regard, and the pacing, overall, was good.
My one real quibble with this book is that it was a bit unrealistic that
That said, I did find myself warm and fuzzy with the ending, and all the threads were tied up (sometimes a bit too neatly, perhaps), but it felt like a really good and satisying conclusion to the series, overall.
This series has maintained a pretty consistent quality overall - it's enjoyable and entertaining. Not great, but definitely worth the read. It has a sort of Firefly with magic vibe to it - and it kept this vibe throughout the series, but it got better after the first book because it felt less forced and the characters started to come more into their own.
It shifts perspectives throughout the stories, from each of the crew and a few others, but it never gets really hard to follow and none of the perspectives outstay their welcome. If anything, there are a few which could probably stand to linger a bit longer. (On that note, I'd like to see more of Samandra, as she became one of my favorite characters in the series, and I really enjoy her and Crake together.)
One of my favorite moments from the book is with Samandra and Frey and Bess. (Need to get lines from the book.)
And I'll even say that this book improved on one of my main issues from the last book - which was that the action was overly detailed and I felt like more attention was being paid to the specifics of every action which made it difficult to get caught up in the feel of the moment. This book was much better in that regard, and the pacing, overall, was good.
My one real quibble with this book is that it was a bit unrealistic that
Spoiler
everyone survives. I mean, not a single main or likable or repeat character seemed to ever die. There were times that we thought they were dead. Times where we thought they might be at risk. But as the book progressed and it became clear that no one 'important' was going to die, it kid of lost some tension.That said, I did find myself warm and fuzzy with the ending, and all the threads were tied up (sometimes a bit too neatly, perhaps), but it felt like a really good and satisying conclusion to the series, overall.