Book Reviews – Strictly Average

The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower Book 1

October 11, 2018 Justin Lado Book Reviews, Non MTG, Reviews

Stephen King’s magnum opus begins here. Kind of. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With those words, Stephen King started his magnum opus in 1978. The series would take decades to complete and, while Gunslinger was not the strongest of the books, it laid the foundation for what would be one of King’s greatest works. Gunslinger is the shortest of the seven books and lays the basis of the world(s) it inhabits. Roland Deschain is the titular gunslinger, an old fashioned knight of a dying world, chasing who he thinks to be his nemesis,

The Way of Kings: Book 1 of the Stormlight Archives

September 26, 2018 Justin Lado Book Reviews, Non MTG, Reviews

Sanderson begins his own sprawling epic. The Way of Kings is Brandon Sanderson’s first book in a planned ten book series known as the Stormlight Archives. It introduces us to Roshar, a new world in Sanderson’s Cosmere; just like the Mistborn series and Elantris, it is lightly connected to his other stories. No external knowledge is required to enjoy these books – Editor As is normal for these types of books, Kings is rife with new terminology and taxonomy, not to mention characters, locations and backstory. One thing Sanderson does to break this up, besides having multiple main characters, is introduce

A Memory of Light: Book 14 of the Wheel of Time

September 19, 2018 Justin Lado Book Reviews, Non MTG, Reviews

“He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone.” A Memory of Light is the final chapter of the enormous saga by Robert Jordan with posthumous help from Brandon Sanderson. It ties up the story of Rand al’Thor and company and their fight with the Shadow and does so with epic battles and grandiose stages. As one would expect, this book leaves no one out. The three main ta’veren are present and doing all sorts of mischief, with Rand not only forging peace throughout the world, but confronting his ancient foe. Mat does

Towers of Midnight: Book 13 of the Wheel of Time

September 13, 2018 Justin Lado Book Reviews, Non MTG, Reviews

Never bet against a man with the nickname “Gambler” Towers of Midnight is the second addition by Brandon Sanderson into the Wheel of Time saga after Robert Jordan’s death. This proves to be the penultimate book in the series and Sanderson uses almost 1300 pages to wrap up a number of storylines before Tarmon Gai’don and bring others to the forefront. As such, this is largely Mat and Perrin’s book. Egwene also plays a large roll, but the two other ta’veren and their stories need to get them to where they need to be and with whom quickly, because both