Jay Targaryen's Blog

A Crown of Swords (Book 7) is a much better book than I expected it to be. It definitely shouldn’t belong in what the fandom call “The Slog”. I put it more on tier with Books 4, 5, & 6. This book felt like Lord of Chaos: Part 2 because it’s more of a continuation from the unresolved plot threads from the previous book such as Rand’s impending war with Sammael in Illian and the search for the Bowl of the Winds in Ebou Dar. It has a much more smaller-scaled and personal ending compared to the grandeur of a big battle like Dumai’s Wells because it’s a more character-oriented book rather than a plot-oriented one but I enjoyed this change of tone and there were still plenty of memorable scenes throughout the book. This will be a non-spoiler review, although I do mention some events that happen very early on in the book. The review will be covered in 5 sections: Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing, & my final thoughts along with an...

The Call of Cthulhu is an amazing short story with intriguing mysteries, fascinating lore, great philosophical themes, and a haunting ending that I can’t stop thinking about. It’s a great introductory story to the bigger world of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos . For those of you who haven’t read this story and also for those who already have, I highly recommend you read the illustrated edition by Francois Baranger. His gorgeous artwork superbly brings this story to life on an epic scale and it enhances your reading experience. I’ll provide some of his artwork throughout this review so you can get a little preview of how amazing his work is. This is a really short story so the format and length of this review will be much different. This review will include spoilers and it will cover the 3 chapters/sections of this brief story. Image: Cthulhu rising from the seas. [Chapter 1 - The Horror In Clay]: The narrator of the story is Francis Wayland Thur...

Norse Mythology is a solid retelling of the Norse myths and it’s a very quick, digestible read. It starts off funny and light-hearted but it takes a dark and gruesome turn later on in the book, and it all culminates into an epic battle and a poetic finale. I did have my issues with some plot holes and the pacing of the earlier portion of the book, but it’s a great introduction to anyone interested in learning about the Norse gods. This will be a non-spoiler review and it will be covered in 5 sections. Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing, and my final thoughts along with a rating. Image: Thor (the God of Thunder). [Characters]: The main characters of this story are Odin, Thor, and Loki. The secondary characters with key roles are Tyr, Freya, Frey, Kvasir, Balder, Frigg, and Heimdall. The only prior knowledge/context I had of these characters were from the Thor movies and the brief amount of Thor comics I read when I was younger. Odin, ...

Lord of Chaos (Book 6) is a great continuation in The Wheel of Time series. It had its low moments and I had some issues with the structure of the book but there was some good character development with Rand and Egwene, awesome reunions between many characters, shocking moments, and yet another phenomenal finale. This will be a non-spoiler review and it will be covered in 5 sections. Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing, and my final thoughts along with a rating. Image: Sammael (1 of the 13 Forsaken). [Characters]: The 2 main focal points of this book are Rand and Egwene, with Nynaeve, Mat, and Perrin also getting a handful of chapters. This is the darkest story arc for Rand in the series so far. Not only does he have enemies on all sides and is trying to juggle several problems at once, but he’s also struggling with his grip on sanity with Lews Therin Telamon constantly saying things in his mind, he’s unwillingly bonded to an Aes Se...