The Sword and Laser discussion

Sykes is really funny on Twitter. He should confine his writing to there.

In the interests of balance: I really enjoyed the humour, character building and above all the slowly revealed world. It left me a tad dazed and looking for the sequel (which does not appear to be out yet).

Not perfect, but I found it a wild ride.

I attended a book signing with Scalzi and Sykes a few years ago. The younger Sykes was an amusing speaker so I picked up his first book and eventually read the entire Aeon's Gate trilogy ( https://www.goodreads.com/series/5874... ).

Until this S&L pick, I hadn't read more of his books, but he's in my Twitter feed.

In some respects, SBiB resembles his rambling Twitter feed. Like William, I kind of enjoyed the ride, but there is a layer self-loathing to Sal the Cacophony that makes the story a little difficult to read sometimes.

It was...ok. There were a number of elements that I liked (view spoiler)[bi main character, interesting magical abilities, rough language at appropriate times (hide spoiler)], but I felt like Tretta, Cavric and Lisette lacked depth. Part of that seemed to be that Sal was (view spoiler)[pretty self-absorbed and she never bothered to want to find out more about the other and since she was the narrator, we in turn don't find out much about them (hide spoiler)]. Tretta in particular (view spoiler)[just seemed like a caricature playing both bad cop and good cop. Honestly, I felt like she could have been named Plot Device and it wouldn't have changed how I felt about her (hide spoiler)].
That said, the descriptions were vivid and at times disturbing, and while the actual story telling was more or less linear, it felt right given how the story itself came to us.

I really liked this book. There was a great balance of action and humor and I enjoyed the story telling device. I thought it was a great deep dive into a very flawed protagonist (even if I'd probably agree that most of the other side characters seemed under-developed).

I'm a newcomer to this group, and out of the past four picks (starting with Vessel) I'd say this book was easily my favorite. I immediately looked to see if there was a sequel out yet (to my disappointment, I didn't find one).

I'll admit, I'm not a very tough critic, and as long as I'm entertained and feel like the story makes logical sense, then I feel positively about it. I'm glad that this group is broadening my reading horizons (which were admittedly very limited before participating in this group).

I'm not really used to the profanity, that was probably the one shocking element for me, but I was able to accept it as a fundamental part of Sal and her mannerisms.

Overall I was very happy. I especially liked the last third of the book, which seemed to kick things into high gear and led to what I thought was a fantastic finish. Great stuff all around!

I liked the book more at the start than at the finish. My biggest criticism would be that it was a bit too much of the same, for way too much of the book. Sal's attitude and constant self-reproach just got annoying. I gave the book 3 stars. If it had been half as long I might have given it 4 stars.

Nathan wrote: "I'm not really used to the profanity, that was probably the one shocking element for me, but I was able to accept it as a fundamental part of Sal and her mannerisms."

It must have gone straight over my head. I finished it 11 days ago and my thought after reading your comment was that, I don't remember the swearing :-?

But I've worked as a miner for 35 years, so I'm used to high level swearing. So it was, probably, tame compared to the guys/girls I've worked with ;-)

It is probably just me. My wife is a children’s librarian and so I probably read more YA and middle grade stuff from her recommendation and I’m a bit sheltered when it comes to that kind of thing. But I’m trying to branch out a bit. Didn’t bother me at all, just a bit outside of my normal so It was something I noticed 😊

Tassie Dave wrote: "... I gave the book 3 stars. If it had been half as long I might have given it 4 stars." ...

I think I'm on board with this comment. I'm not much more than half way through, but feeling that it just much too long for a book that I'm only casually engaging with. I'll need to hurry things up a bit to get done by the end of the month.

Colin wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "... I gave the book 3 stars. If it had been half as long I might have given it 4 stars." ...

I think I'm on board with this comment. I'm not much more than half way through, bu..."

That was the gist of my reaction, too. The writing can not sustain the length.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The length didn’t bother me as an audiobook. I liked it a lot. 4 stars. I also looked for book 2.

Tassie Dave wrote: "I liked the book more at the start than at the finish. My biggest criticism would be that it was a bit too much of the same, for way too much of the book. Sal's attitude and constant self-reproach ..."

I finished last night, rated 3 stars as well, and popped in here this morning to see if it was just me. Tassie Dave pretty much already said my thoughts, and also Trike's review though I didn't feel quite that strongly :-).

How many times did Sal do the (view spoiler)[I should have just shot him/her but I didn't (hide spoiler)]?

ltrftw ... possibly.
Cam

I really liked this book. I had a hard time getting into it at first, but I really liked it once I did. I did see most of the plot twist coming, but I don't mind, I like that there were clues and I still didn't know exactly how things came about. I enjoyed the writing and I actually really liked Sal as a character.

For Nathan: we had the LA meetup tonight and Tom said that the sequel should be out like now. So keep an eye out! I didn't see it yet, but there is a novella out already.

I really liked SBIB but I would say that it was a bit long for my tastes. I liked Sal but I didn't feel like she was as badass as I was anticipating. I mean we are in a world with mages who can teleport, transform themselves, instantly heal, etc. Sal's thing is that she has magic gun that can only shoot these really specific magic bullets. And if she runs out of these bullets the gun is basically useless as a weapon. Don't get me wrong I think a magic gun is cool but every time she shot at someone I was wondering in the back of my mind how many bullets she had left and if she was about to run out. Comparing that to say the ability to summon up a storm, I just didn't think it was as powerful. Also I think I started to grow weary of her self-hatred. When she is confident and all " I'm Sal the Cacophony bi**hes!" I like her but when she is " woe is me I kill vagrants and I am a commitment phobe" I dislike her. Also not sure if I missed this but how much time passed between what happened to her in the dark place to when we join her in the beginning of the book? If she is on an epic revenge quest why hasn't she killed any of the 30+ people on her list before this point? Was she just not looking that hard for them? Especially if several months or years have passed at least a few names should be checked off that list. I feel like I am giving the impression that I did not enjoy this book which is not my aim. I did in fact enjoy it, I always love books with the main character going on a revenge killing spree. There are just a few things that irritated me and thus prevented me from rating it higher. I would definitely be interested in reading the sequel when it comes out. I have never used the spoiler function before so forgive me if this doesn't work but (view spoiler)[ Is it just me or does anyone else think the Mad Emperor is possessing the gun? (hide spoiler)]. As a possible sign of my immaturity I had difficulty pronouncing Cacophony ( not a word I hear a lot) so in my mind any time I saw that name my mind went "KaKaww!" like a deranged rooster.

I thought she was more of a badass because she didn't have her powers anymore. And that I think was the point: they took her powers. And while I'm personally not for revenge, I thought it was very believable. I mean she had a righteous twist to her revenge, but the other thing was that she didn't want anyone else killing them. I'm wondering what the deal that she made with Cacophony really is. Like what happens if she doesn't feed these guys to it?

I got bogged down a bit in the early middle, where I thought things were begining to get repetitive, but by the end, Sykes had me, and I want to read the next book

I liked it. The humor was great. A little too much "fight... and scene. Another fight... and scene" but the end justified the means.

My favorite characters were Congeniality and Cacophony.

I liked the flow of the book, the way it used cliff hangers to urge one peek at the next one. And the action scenes were well done with dramatic flair. But I don't like Sal. She uses her few good deeds to excuse her actions, and her motivation is selfish, like a magic gun wielding Tony Soprano, going to a psychiatrist to show he's a good person. That deal with Cacophony cannot be good for anyone in the long run and will ultimately be the crux of the series, I would think. The book also telegraphed a lot of the plot and I knew where it was going. But I did like the journey and found the world building enjoyable to follow. I still wonder about the cultists and if there are any other factions in this world. I just hope Sal's friends can move on, though I doubt Sal the Cacophony would let it be said she didn't revisit her friends, even if she has to commit a break in.

Finally caught up and finished the book. I thought the world-building was excellent. I liked gung-ho Sal, but didn't like angsty, introspective, self-pitying Sal.

Overall, it opened well then got bogged down badly in the middle of the book, but once we had the real motivation behind Sal's protracted revenge spree the pace picked up and the ending was strong enough that I might consider picking up a sequel to find out what happens next.

Would have worked better if Sal's infamous list had about half as many names on it! (Or split it into two books of reasonable length.)

I enjoyed it overall, but I agree with the general consensus here that it was a mite long/repetitive. I also felt like Sal got so close to death so regularly that it lost its impact. I also felt that Liette was a woefully underused character who felt so much like the stereotypical token female character who is forgotten in favour of plot that I kept forgetting there were other women in the book!

For all that, I liked it, and I'd still like more from this world. I don't know!