Really want to read Once A Monster. Have been hearing good things. I absolutely loved The Toy Makers but DNF'd Paris by Starlight, so was wary of Once A Monster. But think i should give it a go now
Once A Monster sounds incredible, I've never heard of that one before. Thanks for the highlight! I recently finished Sons of Darkness, and I had major issues with it. I also finished re-reading First Law recently, and it's very obvious that major sections of SOD are ripped wholesale from First Law, in far too much detail and far too often for it to be mere 'inspiration'. Does he do the same thing in Dance of Shadows? Or does he finally just start telling his own stories? I want to continue the series, but if it's the same nonsense . . .
I didn’t find SOD took too much from first Law. Don’t forget it is a retelling of the mahabharata poem so things may overlap However in DOS Gourav really shone. It felt more of a his book than a homage to another. Brutal. Made me laugh a lot. The characters really shone and the twists had me gasping. I’d give it a shot. You can see the increase of skill in the craft in the second book
@ladymairreads I'll give the sequel a try, because I really want to like this series. And the rampant similarities I noticed are definitely not just Mahabharata overlap. The Union's been copied into Hastinapur right down to Bayaz's agent Yoru Sulfer with the heterochromia operating in the background. Scenes like Nala's origin are beat for beat exactly what Monza Murcatto goes through. It's sheer coincidence I happened to reread First Law very recently, makes all the granular detail that's been replicated uncomfortably glaring. I'm not even counting others like Eklavvya who is basically Malazan's Kruppe + Logen combined, because Kruppe himself was taken from Dread Empire's Croaker. I'm hopeful going into the second that now that the majority of the intro is done, so is the similarity.
Really want to read Once A Monster. Have been hearing good things. I absolutely loved The Toy Makers but DNF'd Paris by Starlight, so was wary of Once A Monster. But think i should give it a go now
Tained Cup and Jonathan Strange yessss! I'm so excited to get to Gourav's books
@@the_fools_tale I can’t wait for you to read them! They’re super good and brutal
Grace of Kings is just everything.😊 I hope you find just as many 5 star reads in 2025!
Here’s to an incredible year of reading 🥂
Immediately adding the majority of these books to my tbr. You are so convincing, you make me want to just buy all the books 😂
Hahaha BUY THEM ALL
I just demoted a few as I’m writing a piece for Substack. Hope to do a video shortly afterwards.
I’m looking forward To it !
every time I watch your videos I add more books to my tbr 😅
@@readingwithrebeccanicole good. That’s my whole intention
Once A Monster sounds incredible, I've never heard of that one before. Thanks for the highlight!
I recently finished Sons of Darkness, and I had major issues with it. I also finished re-reading First Law recently, and it's very obvious that major sections of SOD are ripped wholesale from First Law, in far too much detail and far too often for it to be mere 'inspiration'. Does he do the same thing in Dance of Shadows? Or does he finally just start telling his own stories? I want to continue the series, but if it's the same nonsense . . .
I didn’t find SOD took too much from first
Law. Don’t forget it is a retelling of the mahabharata poem so things may overlap
However in DOS Gourav really shone. It felt more of a his book than a homage to another. Brutal. Made me laugh a lot. The characters really shone and the twists had me gasping. I’d give it a shot. You can see the increase of skill in the craft in the second book
@ladymairreads I'll give the sequel a try, because I really want to like this series. And the rampant similarities I noticed are definitely not just Mahabharata overlap. The Union's been copied into Hastinapur right down to Bayaz's agent Yoru Sulfer with the heterochromia operating in the background. Scenes like Nala's origin are beat for beat exactly what Monza Murcatto goes through. It's sheer coincidence I happened to reread First Law very recently, makes all the granular detail that's been replicated uncomfortably glaring. I'm not even counting others like Eklavvya who is basically Malazan's Kruppe + Logen combined, because Kruppe himself was taken from Dread Empire's Croaker. I'm hopeful going into the second that now that the majority of the intro is done, so is the similarity.