Ben

Even better than the first

I have to admit that I do somewhat agree with the critics of this book. It was kind of a slog and not a whole lot happens for long stretches of pages.

But I loved all of these characters so much that by the end I didn't care at all about that other stuff.

I'd give this closer to 3 1/2 stars than three. But I can't give a book I came so close to giving up on as much as I did this one 4 stars. Though the writing is excellent and the world and characters brilliant, there just isn't much of a plot until the last few chapters.

I am very glad I stuck with it though. The end made the journey worth it.

Clever and funny. There are lots of terrific passages and lines.

But the format does wear after a while and I found that I was missing a “story.”

What a fantastic book. I can't recommend it enough. Enjoyable, thought-provoking, and unpredictable. I really loved it. My new favorite book of 2016.

Where's the third book?!!? :-)

Just as good as the other two books in the series. Brown gets the story to a realistic and satisfying ending. I can't wait until I forget everything about it and can re-read them all again. One of the few perks of getting older.

Just like a ton of other dystopian, fall of civilization novels. The EMP cause was a bit interesting, but the writing itself was meh. It's also sort of heavy on the “Red Dawn” like NRA propaganda.

I've re-read this book once a year or so since it came out. It stays as enjoyable every time.

I'm struggling over rating this one. The writing is pure Harper Lee and seeing Scout as a young woman was a treat. So do I drop it a star because it's not To Kill a Mockingbird? That seems awfully unfair. Do I drop it because the Atticus Finch written here is not the same Atticus Finch Lee ultimately created? That seems unfair as well. So I gave it 5 stars because I enjoyed the read tremendously, even as this Atticus Finch broke my heart.

I gave it only 3 stars mostly because there is such a disconnect this book and Seeker. In Seeker nobody could even recognize the english characters on the coffee cup from the Seeker. Now in this book they suddenly know all the names of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts? I had a tough time getting past that.

Best of the series since the first one. Different from the rest of the series. It will take the series in a new, needed direction.

A good read, but not great. It was mostly character development for the rest of the series, which isn't bad in itself, but way too much for a 700+ page novel.

Loved the plot and really wanted to like this book. But after 200 or so pages I found myself constantly wanting to see the plot move forward faster and knew I couldn't make it through another 700+ pages of it.

much better than the first. even though the violence was disturbingly graphic, the story was great and all that character set-up in the first on finally paid off.

Not quite as good as the first, but still terrific.

Series losing steam? How many murders can happen during one year in a small English town?

Not my favorite John Varley book, but that's a pretty darn high bar. It was still a compelling and terrific read.