cicada gardens

cicada gardensMy second Pratchett novel, and another absolute winner. His hilarious wordplay consistently catches you off guard. A murder-mystery that waits until the last minute to unfold. Every character is diverse and interesting. The first chunk of the book is generally lighthearted and fun, and in the unfolding, I found myself clinging to the characters in ways I never expected. The metaphors at the end of the last "chapter" had me in tears. I had honestly wondered if I'd ever cry reading this one (as I had so heavily mourned with Small Gods), and Terry waited until the end to get us there. WOW. OUCH, MY HEART.

cicada gardensHad me in the first chapter. I'm only about halfway through, but I was quickly disappointed by the overused, amateur tropes, and lack of character development. I simply don't care about them -- they feel quite "flat", and just like the bland characters I'd read in fanfics on deviantArt 20 years ago. Every line of speech is predictable. I'll come back to edit my review when I complete the book. --- The last part of the book was actually pretty cool, and the only thing keeping me from giving this 2 (or even 1) stars. Will not be reading any more from this author, probably. Still don't care about the characters lol

cicada gardensThis one can be a bit heavy at times, which is why it took me a while to read through it, though it never felt like a slog, like some other OG sci-fi can feel. All the characters were fantastic, even the ones you hate. Ender's Game kept me going right to the very end. The last 20 pages had me saying things to the tune of, "No, no, no, no..." and "WHAT THE F()()()?!" and "Hoooooly s()()()..." What I really love about the ending is that I know there are more books in the series. This ending might have one thinking that everything ended up beautifully, but knowing there are more books to the series shows that ending is not going to pan out that way... I LOVE THAT CRAP. I can't wait to shove this at all my friends and demand they read it!