Avi
This book felt like a letdown after Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead.
I came for my boy, Ender and he is barely present in this story. It makes sense that he grew old, but I just wasn't ready for it going into this book. I liked Vaentine's character but not much of the other characters. I noticed towards the end of the book how OSC was writing Miro like he wrote Ender in Speaker for the Dead. I am interested to see how that goes in the next book.The plot was alright. It is just so convenient these small group of people have the answers for all the problems of the universe. The writing felt a little too technical during certain chapters with all the science conversations going on. Nothing to get intrigued about the story within this book. However, I like how this(mostly Peter) sets the next book up and that is something I am looking forward to.
This book was a major genre shift from book one. I can't wait to see how things move/change in the next book. While the first book was kinda about eliminating aliens, this one was about embracing them ‘cos we misunderstood them. This is one of the rare cases where the sequel is actually better than the first book.
We all have those moments when we are by ourselves and the perfect response to the conversation we had three days ago occurs to us. Ender is the guy who does not need those three days to come up with the perfect response. While I was impressed by Ender's tactical genius in the first book, he blew me away with this diplomatic genius in this one.
Looking forward to the third book to see the Hive queen back in action.
This book is certainly on the heavier side with the text and arguments made.
Martin Luther relies on and quotes the Bible for most of his arguments which makes it a credible read. However, after a certain point, it does get repetitive. This is my first time reading a book from him and his passion oozes through every chapter. Luther is an embodiment of “If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything.” mindset. It must take a lot to stick to his guns when the whole catholic church was going hard against him. I pray for such conviction in my life.
The hard text made it so I had to go slow and this book longer than my usual reads.
If you have not read this book, consider yourself lucky and pray it stays that way. This could possibly be the worst book I have read since I got back into reading. Addiction is a key theme in the book, and the author was certainly addicted to writing. However, it felt he didn't carry any of that interest into reading. Perhaps this could have been a decent experience if he did.
I really should start DNF-ing books.
This book is everything the childhood me fantasised about space fiction.
Ender Wiggins is basically a powerful protagonist who never loses a fight. Despite the predictability this causes, Card does a great job of keeping him and the whole story interesting by focusing on the psychological suffering of Ender. The Wiggins siblings are an interesting set of characters. I wish there was more depth to Peter and Valentine's story. The side cast is well-rounded, too. Ender and Graff will stay with me for a long time.
Card sets up the world neatly without much exposition. Because of this, it took me a while to get into the book, but once I did, I could not put it down and was absolutely intrigued till the end. This is one of the rare books that I enjoyed the battle scenes in.
I liked how Card kept the writing straight, simple and effortless. The Plot may be the only part of the book that I would not rate as high as the others. Many parts of the story felt predictable, but I'm willing to put them down to the book being out for more than 40 years. It is certainly possible that I've come across the plot points in various forms of media that have come out since then.
The story felt well complete with everything neatly tied up. So, not sure what the sequels will contain, but I am certainly picking them up soon. I wish one of the sequels tells the whole story from a bugger's perspective. That should be interesting since the buggers do not have a concept of language.
This book is just drama drama drama from start to finish. I wouldn't be surprised if someone adapts this into TV show soon.
Katarina Shaw is a wild character. Drama follows her and her “friends” wherever she goes. I use quotes because I am not sure if I would want friends like that. For people who spend so much time with each other and are so in love with each other, they definitely lack in communication. Heath absolutely loves Kat, but then is constantly cheating on her? I am unable to wrap my head around this.
I enjoyed the writing style. I'll look for more such documentary-style books. The plot was unique and engaging. I see a lot of people compare this book to Wuthering Heights, but I have not read that. So, maybe I should add it to my ‘want to read' list.
Despite all its flaws and the unsatisfying ending, I enjoyed the book. However, I am not particularly excited about reading more from Layne Fargo.
The biggest strength of this book is how short it is. It does not overstay its welcome. I have been a big fan of John C. Lennox ever since I started watching videos of his talks on YouTube. He just has this old manly wisdom, and this book is another nugget of it.
I will reread this book again in the future some time.
This book surprised me. I was certainly not expecting this when I started listening to the audiobook. It was expecting something along the lines of how a missionary faces many struggles but eventually overcomes them with the help of God.
Rodrigues is an interesting character who will stay with me for a long time. I was(still am) Rodrigues in some/many parts of my life as a missionary. The book really made me rethink the purpose of my mission work and how short I've fallen so far.
I look forward to reading more of Sh??saku End??
The best way to describe this book is a slice of life set in Nazi Germany. Though the backdrop is World War II, the best moments of the book are the small moments of daily life.
Rudy and Hans are the most memorable characters. I was really rooting for the Jesse Owens of Molching throughout the book. At about the halfway point in the book, I caught myself wishing the characters of Himmel Street would make it out of the war, but as it often happens in war, almost no one made it out. This was something I was forced to accept with a heavy heart.
I am not particularly good at writing anything, but Liesel inspired me to write something of my own. Maybe just a short story someday. This is where the book wins. While the narration left little scope for intrigue in the story, I enjoyed the daily life atmosphere of the characters. Death as a narrator wears off quite quickly and does not add much beyond the first few parts of the story.
I look forward to reading more from Markus Zusak.
Note: I heard an abridged audio version of the book and did not read the actual book. This review is based on the audiobook experience.
I am sure the ‘boy' in the title is meant to be both Will and Marcus. I remember this one line Will says about his made-up son, “sometimes I think he's the one that rescued me and not the other way”. As cliche as it sounds, it applies perfectly in the case of Will and Marcus. The setting and the characters, both being realistic, make this a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Nick Hornby put together an enjoyable story with memorable characters. The book flowed effortlessly from one scene to another. The book held my attention all the way through. I look forward to reading more of his books.
The most impressive part was how readable the whole book was without pushing big words for the sake of pushing them. The author has done excellent research for this work. I'm intrigued to read more of his work now. I hear his fictional works are better than this.
Of course, there are some plots which will never be resolved, as this is a real story and the people who can resolve them are no more. For a book titled ‘Two Lives', it feels like it falls short because one of them takes most of the book, and unfortunately, it is the less interesting one. I can't blame the author for this, as he only began writing the memoir after his aunt passed away and could not get much of her story into it.
This review is not just for this book alone but also for the series in general.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Iron Druid series. While this may not be a genre-changing series, it is the series that got me back into reading. It will be special to me because of that.
I liked the ending the main characters got, felt nicely tied up, but it also felt like a rushed ending. It was nice to see many characters from the previous books make an appearance. I guess the cast got too long to give all of them enough storytime. I hope Kevin Hearne decides to come back and continue the series one day. When he does, I will also be there ready to pick up the story. Maybe we get to see what Owen's apprentices got up to. They sounded like characters with a lot of potential.
The most significant plus point in this book was the relatability. I could relate in a small way to most characters in the book. They are just ordinary people facing our everyday problems. It is just a common man going through everyday situations of middle-class life and written in an easy-to-read style.
I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I was a Parsi or lived in Mumbai. The ending was not what I wanted, but here too, the author keeps the story grounded and realistic without going for a fairy tale ending.
This is probably the most challenging book I've read in recent times. Or maybe reading it as a bedtime read was not the best idea. Perhaps the latter, but I did switch to the audio version after a couple of chapters and would listen during the day. Yet, I came close to DNF this on multiple occasions. For comparison, I also read ‘Les Miserables' and ‘Crime & Punishment' before going to sleep and still enjoyed them.
The pacing felt slow, and I stopped caring about what happened to the characters towards the end. Maybe I will have to revisit the book at a later stage of life, but till then, it was not an enjoyable experience.
Great story, great characters, and a great ending in which everything is nicely tied together. It's not often that we get such fantastic novels set in India. Bumped the rating by a quarter star just for that.
Some sections of the book made me think, ‘Why is this book not ending already?'. I also felt a little disengaged during the medical parts of the book. That might be on me, though, as I come from a Tech background.
