#planesrunner

I still very much enjoyed Kings. I've read too many bad books to think this was actually bad. It's just...fine! Certainly not the huge, exciting fantasy epic everyone made it out to be. Online hype had me expecting Elden Ring, but all I got was Final Fantasy. We all like Final Fantasy, but by no means is it a modern feat of the genre!

A million people have reviewed this book, and most criticisms I've read are entirely valid. The highlight of Kings is Kaladin's story. Bridge Four's struggle is frightening and endearing--you want to read those parts because it really does feel like characters' lives are stake. That's good! But then, you don't really care about Kaladin when he was eight--please, get back to Bridge Four. Nor do you want to read about Dalinar, a flat, Aragorn-esque mirror of a dozen other characters Sanderson has already written. Shallan, our emotional female lead, is...fine. She's fine. All in all, it's tough to stick around for 1,300 pages with these plain, stereotypical, morally-impervious characters leading the way.

Nonetheless, there's intrigue in the world that kept me reading all the way to the end. Kaladin's story is strange and fantastical, and there's enough mystery peppered into Dalinar and Shallan's chapters to keep my attention. If only the book were a tight, 700 pages, which, I think Sanderson could have easily managed.

I could write about my qualms with this book for ages, but I think it comes down to this. Read Kings if you haven't read anything else by Sanderson--having already read Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Elantris, Kings brings nothing unique to Sanderson's cosmere. Read if you prefer worldbuilding to character work. Read if you want to finally know what the big friggin deal is! But this book isn't a masterpiece by any means. Just RENT IT!

Planesrunner

By Ian McDonald - Where Kings is often fine, Planesrunner is completely and totally fine. This is the definition of middle-of-the-pack. I picked this one up a million years ago from a used bookstore, and sadly, it's been sitting on my shelf all this time for no good reason. Super bad books are fun. Super good books are delightful. Average books bring nothing to the table.

I'm so sorry, Ian. The book's premise rocks. A London kid discovers his kidnapped father has left him a map that allows him to hop universes--a map that is heavily sought after by more sinister forces. Sounds fun, right? That's why I bought it!

And there was a lot to like about Planesrunner, but by the end, I just didn't care. The main character is a perfect, big-brained, Artemis Fowl archetype who believes in goodness and justice. Alternate-universe London is weird, colorful, and evocative of Lanthimos' Barcelona in Poor Things, but I never truly felt like our characters were in danger here. The main character was just too smart to ever be threatened. He made plans with his gang of witty Mortal Engines-like airship crew, and they always worked out brilliantly! When he ultimately succeeds at the book's end--oh no! One thing went wrong, and now we have to have a sequel! Having just read Catherine Fisher's Obsidian Mirror, which has a very similar plot of using a McGuffin to travel times/dimensions in search of a lost father, I would recommend Fisher's books instead. The main character's stubbornness and anger make him interesting, and you want him to succeed--or fail, even! You won't find any intrigue like that in Planesrunner.