Gods and lawyers battle for the soul of the world in the action-packed second volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars, an epic fantasy like no other.
A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault.
The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their …
Gods and lawyers battle for the soul of the world in the action-packed second volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars, an epic fantasy like no other.
A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault.
The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems.
I feel like this one tried to do too much and kind of ended up all over the place as a result. Almost every major character in the entire craft sequence gets some pagetime, and it gets very hard to keep track of who's doing what to and/or with whom, and why.
I feel like this one tried to do too much and kind of ended up all over the place as a result. Almost every major character in the entire craft sequence gets some pagetime, and it gets very hard to keep track of who's doing what to and/or with whom, and why.
Wicked Problems is the second book in Max Gladstone's new Craft Wars trilogy. I enjoyed getting back to this world, but I feel like this book didn't work for me as much as I wanted it to.
Dead Country much more narrowly focuses on a local place and a smaller cast, in a way that really worked for me narratively. It's a book that I think you could easily read without having read any of the craft sequence and not feel lost. It's got a much tighter plot and stronger themes.
On the other hand, Wicked Problems feels like some Marvel extended universe take on the Craft Sequence, where pretty much everybody from every prior book in the previous series shows up to do their bit. Maybe some people really enjoy this kind of thing, but it's just not for me; it feels like this kind of media …
Wicked Problems is the second book in Max Gladstone's new Craft Wars trilogy. I enjoyed getting back to this world, but I feel like this book didn't work for me as much as I wanted it to.
Dead Country much more narrowly focuses on a local place and a smaller cast, in a way that really worked for me narratively. It's a book that I think you could easily read without having read any of the craft sequence and not feel lost. It's got a much tighter plot and stronger themes.
On the other hand, Wicked Problems feels like some Marvel extended universe take on the Craft Sequence, where pretty much everybody from every prior book in the previous series shows up to do their bit. Maybe some people really enjoy this kind of thing, but it's just not for me; it feels like this kind of media doesn't give characters (or the plot) enough space when everybody else is crowding them. I also would not at all recommend this book to people who hadn't read the entirety of the Craft Sequence.
To its credit, some of this character maximalism creates some fun moments! Temoc and the King in Red get a showdown redux; Kai flirts with Tara and dresses her in drag; everybody from the first two books get to reprocess their broken relationships; Seril and Kai gang up to take care of Tara who won't ask for help on her own. The final sequence is just really well done narratively as it (and everyone) all come together.
