Firefight is a an excellent followup to Steelheart, taking everything I liked about the first book–the variety of the Epics’ powers and the ruined world they’ve left behind–and making it better while at the same point smoothing out my one real complaint–the ‘bad analogies’. They’re still there, but he doesn’t mention them every page or two, so they actually feel funny this time around, rather than so forced.

On the upside, the new setting is just as crazy and cool this time around. Last time–Chicago turned to steel. This time, New York City flooded to the point only the tops of skyscrapers stick out of the water, where fruit trees grow freely in buildings and spray paint glows in the night. It’s a beautiful image and an interesting contrast to the relentlessly gritty steel of Newcago.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite book of the series. That doesn’t make it a bad book, by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s just not as fun to read as the others and doesn’t really feel like it advances the story in any way. We all know Voldemort is back now–although the ministry denies it, which is interesting but stretches credulity somewhat. Other than that, not terribly much world-changing happens. We get a lot of angsty teenage Harry, a bit of Hogwarts dating life, and a frankly terrifying new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers…

Specifically, teenage angsty Harry is thoroughly annoying. I get that teens are angsty and Harry in particular has more reason than most, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read. Especially since it feels like such a drastic change from previous books.

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Cruel Beauty is a re-skinning of Beauty and the Beast, told in a weird, fantastic world with strong influences from ancient Greece and Rome. Among the retold fairy tales that I’ve read, it’s among the best of them and manages to feel reasonably like the inspiration story while adding a good number of weird twists and beautiful imagery on top of it.

Honestly, the strongest part of the story for me was the world. It seems that a chunk of reality was torn from what could have been our world and set aside, with a sky that looks like parchment and demons that literally roam the land, making deals. There’s a castle chock full of magical rooms and artifacts that are all sorts of cool, even when they’re just used as background for a single scene. It’s the sort of world I would absolutely love to explore in a more freeform style (virtual reality?) someday and the author does an excellent job of bringing it all to life and making it feel real.

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For the most part, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one of the best entries into the series. The worldbuilding and characterization are very cool, expanding on what we’ve already seen and making the magical world come alive in all sorts of wonderful ways. Despite a few immersion-defying ideas scattered thoughout the book (we’ll get to that later), it’s very well written and keeps pulling you through the longest book in the series thus far by almost double.

Okay, nitpick time, since this is getting to be my favorite part of writing these reviews :) Warning: spoilers, stop reading now if that matters to you :

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I think on previous readings/viewings, the Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite book/movie. Wacky things happen, you get some cool magical thingie moments (the Marauders map is cool as is the Monster Book of Monsters ), you see a bit more of the magical world (Hogsmeade!), and you learn a bit more about Harry’s parents and how Hogwarts was before Voldemort was at the height of his power.

Speaking of which: another strength of this book is that it basically completely ignores Voldemort. It’s a nice switch; one that we don’t get to see again.

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And so my re-listen continues. Much as the first book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets feels like it’s primarily aimed as a children’s book, but most definiately enjoyable for adults as well.

Mostly random thoughts: McGonagall makes a good point at the beginning of the books, pointing out that the main characters are kids. They don’t always think things through. Miss the train? Perhaps you should just call ahead and someone can fetch you. Nope, have to do things the crazy well.

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A fitting end to a surprisingly solid (to me at least) end to a surprisingly good series.

Morning Star basically finishes everything that Golden Son set out to do. It starts out crazy and takes you on a wild roller coaster ride. Things blow up, people die (some more permanently than others), and … revolution!

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Harry Potter is such a huge thing that I’m honestly not sure what in the world I could say that would convince anyone to read/not read it that hasn’t already made up their mind. So it goes.

Short version: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is at times clearly intended for a younger audience, but it’s a solid book even for an older audience.

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The Reckoners is everything that I love in a Sanderson book, with the main exception being that it’s not set in the otherwise shared universe of the Cosmere. It makes sense though, given that Steelheart is set in our universe (more or less).

Basically, a bunch of people gained superpowers. In Sanderson fashion, their powers are varied and interesting and the ‘rules’ are fairly solid. Powers range from illusions and fire to turning an entire city into metal. On top of that, every Epic (the word ‘Superhero’ having some legal oddities around it) also has a weakness, thus fulfilling Sanderson’s Second Law. Also, they’re all pretty much evil. It’s a pretty neat world.

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Hope you like horses.

On the plus side, Dead Heat has two themes that are really interesting and worth exploring within the universe that Briggs is building. First is Charles’ relationship with an old, non-werewolf friend. They’ve touched some on what happens when everyone you know ages and dies, but it’s interesting to see it in first person. Especially knowing that they don’t have to die–they could be changed instead–but refuse to do so.

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