So, first post, long-time lurker here, but I decided to finally sign up because I could not imagine having to go through WoR completely alone.
However, I also have been gifted with a copy of WoR already, thanks to amazon.de.
When I came home after Uni on Wednesday, it was sitting on my doorstep, looking all innocently. So I did the only logical thing - sat down and read it straight through for the next eight hours. I have to admit that I might’ve skipped a few chapters, mostly interludes, at the last fifth of the book because things were getting so intense I simply had to know what happened next. Also, it was getting quite late and I had to get up at 6 am. Of course now I’m feeling rather guilty and like I somehow wronged the book…
Anyway, a short spoiler-free review, here you go:
Since I would very soon run out of superlatives to use, because honestly nearly every chapter deserves them, let me just borrow Lift’s vocabulary: It is awesome. Everyone is so awesome. There are really, really awesome things happening, some of them long wished-for. Others are totally unexpected at least to me. Of course, WoR does have its fair share of not-awesome scenes (read: sad/tragic/painful/cruel/shocking scenes) that made me numb with shock or cry my eyes out at some points. Tip: Don’t start crying messily at 1 am if you have other people living with you. They tend to get disturbed. They don’t like sudden loud laughing either - and I did plenty of that while reading. Compared to TWoK, I’d say WoR has many more of these scenes and one-liners that just make you laugh because they are so brilliant. We all know who of the cast is partly responsible for that, don’t we?
Also I have to genuinely applaud you guys for your theories. While I haven’t read all the theories out here, it was surprising how many of the ones I read were at least partly right. Or spot-on, even. Other theories are proven wrong of course, and there are possibilities for a lot of new interesting theories.
WoR is, above all, very intense and manages to be during the whole read - the climax or rather the climaxes had me sitting on the edge of my seat, frantically trying to not squee with delight or alternatively, shiver with dread.
I could continue by yelling around various character names because they all do things that are at times amazing, then painful, then horrifying, then stupid, and many other adjectives. But certain names might be considered spoilers? Not sure.
I also liked the fact that the epigraphs at the beginning of the chapters are really informative and give room for yet another large batch of theories.
While reading, I can assure you the epilogue is absolutely something worth the wait. More than worth it. Really. Look forward to it.
To be a bit mean, have some some reactions to a certain few scenes, not in order and very subjective of course:
- Shock, sudden dread, worry, anger, fear. Then surprise, delight, and "STORMS YEAH".
- "I KNEW IT!"
- "No no no no no what did you do please no don't let it be true oh my god why" (more than one scene actually)
- "It's totally chliché, but Brandon makes it work more than well."
Summed up, WoR pushed TWoK down from the place of "my favorite Brandon book ever" and also took the title of "book I most yelled about".
I hope I managed to keep this as spoiler-free as possible and yet still be a bit informative
Now I'm off deciding if I rather start rereading the whole book, read the chapters I skipped at the end, or just reread the awesome climax scenes. Hmhm.
