Basically a fantasy novel embedded in a science fiction / ideas story. And Stephenson is always a good story teller with interesting ideas.

But not the best story in a lot of ways. Overlapping characters and world from Reamde, moving in a completely different direction, and it struggles to be coherent and make sense in many ways.

My response to the ideas in his books has often been - interesting, I should think about that further and more deeply. This time it felt much more like unlikely and vaguely incredible projections for the singularity / technological afterlife. Less worth thinking about than normal.

Also -he retells essentially a Biblical creation story, with twists (starting with a very limited creator). And he does so VERY slowly. Some of this lack of progress makes the book feel like it should be much shorter.

A little better than average, and I like Cadfael in general. The problems of agency for a woman with property in feudal england, plus love and the usual bad / trapped actors make for a fun story.

Reasonably satisfying end to the series. If you have read the other 12 books and are still here, you will like this one also.

A solid story of the background behind the creation of Israel in a region full of turmoil. Told largely as the story of an Arab young man and his family.

The author is clearly pro-Israel, and it shows through in a few places. But he also gets a lot of things right about the mess that the whole region was, the dysfunction of certain aspects of arab culture, and how that all worked together to drive a slow motion catastrophe. And then big pieces of why the aftermath has continued to fester to this day.

I like Cadfael, this is a good story in the series.

It's Sanderson. So good, compelling story, great magical systems, fascinating stuff.

But this one didn't work for me as well as many have. A number of characters spending a lot of time in their own heads, and dilly dallying basically for the author's convenience in letting a few people die but not too many and tying threads together at the right time.

And you need to know about the cosmere to make sense of a LOT of things in this book. Like, a LOT. This is the first time where I would say you really need something like the coppermind site to make sense out of one of his stories.

And a few of the things that happened in the story bothered me just by their sheer improbability.

Not perfect, but obviously one of the classics. An amazing world and story.

I enjoy Cadfael mysteries. Slower paced, not crazily exciting, but enjoyable, interesting, and fun. This one is a good introduction to the series.

Excellent story. Lots of real technology, accurate details, and a compelling story. Also some flights of imagination to jump forward in tech progress. A story of dystopia mixed up with with opportunity.

These stories are very fast paced and hard to put down. Despite depicting times of horrific violence and squalor, it is fascinating to watch the main character respond to the events around him in ways that would be wildly unfamiliar to any of us today.

When people can change their DNA, everything changes.

The tech is a little incredible. The same for the government control of it. I hope if we ever get there, we will have adapted to the possibilities a little better. But it makes for a very intense story.

I enjoyed it. Time travel, destiny / fate, magic of various sorts. And the story is well told - a little confusing at times, but mostly an intentional representation of the character's confusion.

Good start to a story, but didn't really stand alone. Fortunately the sequel is out now.

Entertaining and historically interesting (within the bounds of fiction, which the author does a good job of clarifying). Not a period you would want to live in, but powerful stories to experience vicariously.

Interesting story, not quite credible on a number of levels, but bringing a frontier mentality to space instead of a safety mentality makes for an interesting story. Well told by Suarez as usual.

Not even sure how this ended on my shelf. Read it for a change of pace - it at least kept me turning the pages, but I wouldn't seek out more of it. Jane Austen with dragons I think is a fair description.

Builds well on the previous book, but books 2&3 are hard to separate for me. Read them together.

Still compelling, still some good characters and story, a lot more going on that I didn't love. The desire to know what will happen next is still strong, but making sense of it seems harder. Enjoying the world less as this goes on.

Definitely some places where the dialogue about a character's inner mind state went on way too long.

A lighter read and more sci-fi than Daemon or Freedom. Well written, fast paced and enjoyably story, I liked it.

Basically starts a new chapter in the ongoing universe. Some time skipped, and a new set of bad guys to work with. But the protomolecule tech is still driving the storyline.

Fun, but not the best in the series by a long shot.

Peace talks and this book are one story, and should be read as such. Good conclusion, but too much time spent in battle. More emotional than they have been in a while. Very glad to see the author back to writing these.

This one has some interesting changes in dynamic, but a whole new magic type was a little overkill. It leads into the 5th book effectively, but there isn't as much here as there should be.

Solid ending to the series. Same good and bad as all the rest, if you are still here you know what you are getting.

I liked the beginning quite a bit, and as with all of these the story dragged me in pretty effectively - always anxious to know what happened next. But a lot of the philosophical musings on love and death wrapped up in the story did not seem to fit well. And there were enough little annoyances that I can't recommend it highly.

It is in fact an ending. Sets the stage for more at the very end, but you can consider it wrapped here.

Too verbose. Slow to develop, and the payoff was small.

Fairly formulaic in many ways - prophecy driven fantasy. Well told for the most part, some bits of the book are quite cringeworthy, overdescription abounds. But also reasonably fast paced.

Enjoyable, violent, and compelling. Had trouble putting it down, and mostly in a good way. Strong world building, and interesting characters with plenty of twists and turns.

There are a few world and character inconsistencies I didn't love, but nothing major. Overall a good read.

Good addition to the story of the Crimson guard. Happens in a strange place, very disconnected from the rest of the story world in many ways.

It cleans up a whole storyline nicely. This is a good stopping point if you want a break from the flow of the story.

A bit of deus ex machina made it a little less fun for me, but it was mostly enjoyable.