Posting about finishing the second in the series made me realise that I hadn’t added the first to my timeline. Just so I know what a I’ve read this year, here it is.

Obviously similar to the first instalment - generally entertaining and an educational enough starting point for someone learning about the period. More battles in this one.

I’ve read other historical series by the author and this is the same: an entertaining and presumably accurate (in broad terms) representation of a time period I previously knew little about. This genre is very educational for me e.g. finding the London Stone of Cade’s rebellion.

Annoying/abusive person meets same and they fall madly in love. Unable to see each other, one becomes so sad that they literally die. Their offspring (conceived not with each other but seemingly reasonable people who become victims) then repeat much of this. Weird & annoying.

Flew through this re-read. A bit of distance from uni helped me enjoy the cliquey superiority and engage with it more. A gripping central plot and excellent characterisation.

Science heavy which I generally enjoyed but there were passages which I didn’t understand and had to get past knowing that it was written in a way that I could still understand the plot. I’m curious how they’ve rewritten this for the film (less science, more emotion probably).

A decent Robert Harris style thriller with some good political subtext. Concluded the serial killer storyline a little quickly but definitely a good page-turner.

I was familiar with this from various interpretations of it but the original has much less action than I’d expected and much more of people trying to convince others that Odysseus is/isn’t coming home. Clearly an epic adventure though.

An interesting account but I felt it was a little repetitive. Problem explained; character introduced (including whimsical details of their life); said character solves problem; repeat. Although I’m sure they’re less detailed I think the film/musical will be more enjoyable.

A truly exceptional trilogy. The writing style requires concentration but makes it feel like it was written at the time of the story. The characterisation and political intrigue are very rewarding and have ignited my interest in a period of history which I was indifferent to.

Keeping momentum with this while moving house and following everything in the news over the last couple of months was difficult. Definitely interesting though. Might be worth re-reading in 10 years to see how society has been further changed by AI.

My third time reading this and it might have been my favourite. Absolutely fantastic. Accidentally (but perfectly) timed before seeing the Extended Editions at the cinema.

This one was a grind. I expected a ‘tense psychological thriller’ about a kidnapping but it was mostly repetitive boardroom meetings. Without much plot progression the cultural differences also became harder to understand. I won’t be reading volume two.

A great description of a society under oppression but there was a slightly comic tone to it. It didn’t put me off hugely and maybe it was a translation issue but it did feel a little incongruous.

I really appreciated the artistic skill of its predecessor but this one is even better. Far more plot driven and gripping as a consequence.

Like most sci-fi this is a bit derivative/generic but still an entertaining, if unsurprising, read. Might try the next one but not sure it’ll be worth all 9 books in the series.

Gets better every time I read it.

That the world depicted has become more recognisable since this was written (to the point where the story was a little predictable) is scary and depressing. Very good.

Much more magical realism than I’d anticipated when I bought this on a whim. I always struggle with that style (Bakelite robots raising an infant cyclops who has a corkscrew penis?!) but there was just enough plot for it not to drag.

Perfect for when I was on a plane (not intended as a backhanded compliment).