Three stars might be the lowest rating I've ever given a Jay Lake book. But I have a good relationship with Jay, and I think he expects me to be honest in my reviews and not just give extra stars or say nice things just because we've chatted on Livejournal and I've interviewed him for my website. And if I'm being honest ENDURANCE didn't work for me as well as its predecessor GREEN. I think I've delayed writing this review for as long as I have ( tells me I finished reading the ARC I was graced [...]

I have a love/hate relationship with the "Green" series.On one hand, the author does a great job of developing an interesting story line (albeit starting off very slowly at times) and having plenty of great characters. I enjoy where the story has gone and look forward to where it will lead in the next book.On the other hand, I've never been a big fan of the author's attempt at depicting Green's sexuality in the book. Most of these scenes would have been better suited to have had less detail. No [...]

I liked Green and I really liked Endurance as well. While inGreen, Green was struggling to make her way thru her enslavement as a courtesan in tranining before exploding into the world outside, in Endurance she was busy picking up the pieces of her actions in the first novel while actively trying to evade responsibility for those actions. In doing this she could be petulant, egotistical and narrow-minded in pursuing her goals. Green is far from a perfect person. She was sold into slavery as a ch [...]

Endurance by Jay LakeThis is one of those butt kicking female protagonist stories I enjoy so much. Green is a god ridden sell sword seemingly bent on self destruction. This book stood alone quite well. I do want to read Green now though, the precursor to this book. This was an excellent action adventure fantasy with a terrific understory. Green is hell bent on stopping child slavery and the abuse of women. She finds her self immersed in god activities and her complete distain for any kind of hum [...]

A decent book, I generally liked it though I also think that _Endurance_ suffers in comparison with the first volume in this series, _Green_. Why? The best answer (though there are others) to me is the lack of the strong narrative tool that so dominated the first part of _Green_, namely that of the girl with no name, taken from her homeland, her entire world becoming that of a single courtyard and the attached building (for the most part) and a succession of teachers that come to see her, most c [...]

After reading Green, I couldn’t wait to find out what happens to her next…drey’s thoughts:Oh Green. Trying to stay quiet in the High Hills outside Copper Downs doesn’t work when people come looking for you. And when even the ghosts tell you to go back to the city, well, what other choice is there? So off she goes, back to Copper Downs.And what does she find there but Selistani? Lots and lots of people from her homeland, including the Prince of the City, Surali of the Bittern Court – th [...]

Endurance is a plottier book than Green, and it didn't work quite as well for me. I don't dislike it, but it's easier to talk about the things that bugged me than the things that worked.First, Green is (has always been, really) the sort of short-tempered, brash, short-sighted heroine that the urban fantasy genre is full of, and my patience for that archetype is thin. She leaps to conclusions, picks fights, makes dumb choices, and generally blunders through the plot, surviving only because she ha [...]

I enjoyed this book immensely, although the first book, Green, was by far my favorite of the two. Endurance has just as much detail, action, and unique characters as Green, yet it is somewhat lacking in the passion, strength and overall decadent display of various emotions that makes up Green herself. Green spends so much time throughout the book doubting herself, questioning her motives, and basically being in-decisive about everything going on around her, while in the first book she conquered [...]

Sequel to GREEN sends her back to Copper Downs to become embroiled in multiple related schemes to kill off some gods. She finds her work hampered by being pregnant--and because she has no sense of humor whatsoever the morning sickness, vomiting and strange cravings make her really, really annoyed and so add a humorous level to the tale. The author fancies himself a Stylist, but looking past (skipping, whenever possible) the pointless and pace-slowing literary flourishes, there's a lively and rea [...]

Continuing off where "Green" left off, "Endurance catches back up with Green and the man characters that frequent her life, whether she wants them there or not. The only issue I have with Endurance is the same I had with "Green", probably more so, as you would think would have learned a thing or two from her mistakes, but I suppose not. Green's stubborn headedness is still very much a turn off, yet is what sets this book and perhaps her whole story in motion. The need to be her own person, altho [...]

Après avoir remplacé un Dieu par un autre, Green espère couler des jours tranquille loin de l'agitation de la ville, surtout dans son étatMais le pouvoir des dieux fait des jaloux, et les ennemis ne sont pas toujours ce qu'elles croient.La série continue, et c'est vraiment très orienté sur des intrigues théistes (plutôt que religieuse : il ne s'agit pas de guerre de religion, mais de guerre théologique et mythes, voir de genre). J'ai même failli au milieu du livre l'abandonner, écoeu [...]

I am on the fence about this book. The first half was dry and boring setup. The second half was alot better, but the first half took away from my enjoyment of the story as a whole. Also, the author kept throwing in phrases like "I learned later in life" and "As I would one day find out" that felt awkward and misplaced. The book was not written as a retrospective story, and the retrospective phrases were annoying. Take those out and improve the pacing in the first half and I would have loved it.

Why only 3 stars after having given Green 5? For several reasons: this second part of Green's tale was a little too action-packed for me. It seemed every other page was some intense battle, which got old after the first half of the book. Green was all about setup and character and establishing place and people and goals: it was a story of growth. Endurance, instead, was plot driven, which doesn't make it bad, by any means, because I did enjoy it, it just wasn't as good as it's first. I did enjoy [...]

There are a few things I really love about Jay Lake's work--his prose, worldbuilding, and character arcs--all of which are present in Endurance. Once again Green gets herself entangled in the affairs of the gods, and despite her best efforts to hack and slash and theorize her way free, she only ends up even more enmeshed. I'm not quite sure how he does it, but his writing voice is half-wry, half-lyrical, and all Green.

Rating: 3.75* of fiveNew Review! I'm continuing my Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Readathon at Shelf Inflicted with the second Green Universe book, ENDURANCE--and it's even better than GREEN was! This man is clearly a sorcerer to make me, misogynstic anti-fantasy me, like these books.There can be no other explanation. Dark arts and malign spirits must be involved.

There was a lot of good here, but the resolution on this one was just as disappointing as it was in Green (first book in the series). He's definitely getting better at telling stories, but with such poor endings, I'll probably skip over his stuff for a while before trying him again.Full review post coming soon

Loved the first book, "Green," and how it carried you through the main character's life so vividly and seamlessly. "Endurance" picks up where the last book left off. This series is one of those rare kind of stories that you can disappear into another world and feel immersed in the picturesque detail of the writing.

i didn't enjoy this book as much as Green. I feel like it was so political and hard for me to follow all the plots, counter plots, plots-within-plots etc. I also feel like her pregnancy was fastforwarded in this book and the timeline is atrocious for that. This book has a sort of different feel to it than Green.

Green is so friggin' ANGRY at everybody and everything. It's incredibly monotonous. There's absolutely nothing likable about her, this time around. Like in Green, she's incapable of looking at another woman without lusting after her and wishing they were knocking boots. I just couldn't enjoy the story because of how bitter Green is about everything.

I enjoyed this, though maybe not so much as the first book. It seemed as though Green just sort of wandered from one thing to the next for about three quarters of the book, and then everything sort of fell into place. Still enjoy the world and Green's resistance/reaction to it, but the story was a bit weaker for me here.

Jay Lake does a wonderful job with delving in to the expanding philosophies/religions of the various characters he has created. It doesn't hurt that this is overlayed onto a mystery/action-thriller plot.

This one moved much more slowly than the first one and was really hard to stay interested in. I think all of the theology killed it for me. Gods this and gods that, bored me. But I persevered! It's probably going to be a while before I bother picking up the last one to read, though.

I couldn't remember how the first book ended, so the beginning of this one was a little confusing, plus just not interesting enough for me to want to finish it while dealing with all my school stuff.

Angry pregnant fifteen-year-old lesbian assassin accidentally overthrows governments, argues with gods, and accidentally creates new religions while killing everyone in her path.This is not a bad thing. :)

A Book 2 of 2 Endeavour read. And what a doozy. Kind of an original mythological gritty fantasy. And exhausting. Stylistically weird and oddly paced. Definitely the kind that will have a mixed reaction. I'm still not sure what I thought of it. But it ended well-ish.

This is a dramatic improvement over the first volume Green and produces a powerful fantasy exploring the need of any society to achieve some degree of equality between he sexes.opionator.wordpress/2012/0

3.5* ratingI appreciate the frank and matter-of-fact inclusion of bisexuality, and the strong female protagonist, as well as the array of interesting characters. A little heavy on the non-stop violent action, just like Green.

review pending caffeine.

The book never picked up. There is only so much self reproach one person can take and 15 pages is waaayyyy over my limit.

Quit reading after a hundred pages or so. I could never find the person in the main character and finally gave up. I almost never quit a book, but I couldn't make this one work.