The Strength of the Few
Reddit take
Not enough linked mention summaries yet; the source excerpts below are the evidence.
Pros
- I feel like I jive with these books very differently from most readers because I was also underwhelmed by the first one, but this one was a step up in essentially every way.
- The strength of the few is my book of the year! I just love the whole world
- I thought the first book's beginning was some of the weakest writing I've read this decade, like I actually preferred something like Fourth Wing, while the beginning of The Strength of the Few riveted me.
- Overall, I had a pretty good time with this book. I've been waffling on whether it's a 3 star like I gave The Will of the Many (because while I like it more, it's got more obvious flaws), or if it's a 4 star (because I like it more). I t...
- And for me at least, *The Strength of the Few* actually pulled it off. ... Overall, I had a pretty good time with this book. ... I think for the moment I'm going to settle on 4 stars simply because I respect that Islington really went fo...
Cons
- In summary, I think the book was good and had a lot of amazing moments. But to me, it didn't reach the heights of book one. I think this is because the structure of the three perspectives exposed weaknesses that wouldn't have been appare...
- Honestly this year has been something of a let down, with The Strength of the Few and Empire of the Dawn both being big let downs.
- I'm only maybe halfway through, but I have to say I do not really like it. I don't like these multi timeline/dimension narratives in general, especiallywhen you have several POV characters slowing down story progression. ... This is how...
- I'm pretty jealous as someone who thought Will of the Many was fine but overhyped, but just DNF'ed Strength of the Few about 1/3rd in. It started strong but then I realized I just did not care about enough of the worlds and about Vis eno...
- The weak character writing was my biggest issue with this series. Character wise I thought the first book was serviceable, but was a bit of an improvement over Islington's last series, so I was hoping it was a sign that he was improving...
Sentiment
7 positive (41%) · 5 mixed (29%) · 5 negative (29%)
Trust + time weighted score: +16% · raw score 12%
What redditors said (10 of 17)
I feel like I jive with these books very differently from most readers because I was also underwhelmed by the first one, but this one was a step up in essentially every way.
In summary, I think the book was good and had a lot of amazing moments. But to me, it didn't reach the heights of book one. I think this is because the structure of the three perspectives exposed weaknesses that wouldn't have been apparent otherwise.
The strength of the few is my book of the year! I just love the whole world
Honestly this year has been something of a let down, with The Strength of the Few and Empire of the Dawn both being big let downs.
I'm only maybe halfway through, but I have to say I do not really like it. I don't like these multi timeline/dimension narratives in general, especiallywhen you have several POV characters slowing down story progression. ... This is how I feel about TSotF so far.
I'm pretty jealous as someone who thought Will of the Many was fine but overhyped, but just DNF'ed Strength of the Few about 1/3rd in. It started strong but then I realized I just did not care about enough of the worlds and about Vis enough to read about him three different times.
The weak character writing was my biggest issue with this series. Character wise I thought the first book was serviceable, but was a bit of an improvement over Islington's last series, so I was hoping it was a sign that he was improving as a writer. Unfortunately The Strength of Few to be even worse in this regard.
TSotF is my lowest rates book on Goodreads right now at 2*. I felt like everything I disliked in TWotM turned up to eleven. The whole "multiple worlds" spiel got old very quick when I realized it was just Vis being obnoxious in three different settings.
I still thought it was a solid book, but I found it a step down from the first book, which I really liked.
I thought the first book's beginning was some of the weakest writing I've read this decade, like I actually preferred something like Fourth Wing, while the beginning of The Strength of the Few riveted me.
Compare
The Strength of the Few vs The Lord of the RingsThe Strength of the Few vs PiranesiThe Strength of the Few vs Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
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