/lit/ - Literature

This book, like every other book of Anthony Ryan's that I have read, is perfectly adequate, yet I feel so unsatisfied by reading them. The first book was by far the best, but every book after it never really managed to live up to its potential. When looking at the first book as part of the series it becomes significantly less impressive and merely passable. I find it difficult to articulate my issues with Ryan's work. I use a lot of negative adjectives but I don't hate his books, I've finished every single one that I picked up, which is more than I can say for some authors. I don't finish boring books. So I can't call them boring. But it doesn't change the fact that I feel like the story is squandering the potential of its characters and setting, like ideas aren't being fully realized, or are content to rely on cliches. It's just good enough despite this that I keep reading.

This series is the bad sex of books. At the end of the day it's still sex, so you have a baseline of pleasure, but that's it.