Etiènne

3

This book was a ride. When reading a book I always have these moments where I think: “What rating would I give this book so far?”

This book went from a 5, to a 3. To a 4. To a 3. And a 4. And then I decided it would be a 3 after all.

You can tell that the writer has a lot of knowledge of linguistics, I even read a review saying “this is a book where Kuang is continuously flexing her knowledge” - I get why people would say this.

The beginning was intense, it immediately sucked me in. So much happened, it was gory, violent, intense... And then it just kinda fell flat (for me)? Suddenly I was in pages full of lectures and discussions about linguistics and etymology. I kept reading on a much slower pace than the beginning. My brain wasn't keeping up. At one point it even became a chore and I was thinking about DNF. Then I thought: what am I missing? This book is so highly rated. I was on page 250 and started reading reviews on Goodreads. There was literally someone who wrote: “I am currently on page 225 and I started reading reviews, because I'm not getting the hype” - At about the same point.

About 150 pages before the end, plot twists came. Stuff changed. A lot happened. I noticed myself suddenly reading the book very quickly until it, once again, started to slow down to such a way I couldn't really wait to finish the book so I could start on something new. I noticed myself quickly scanning some pages and I couldn't even be bothered to read entire footnotes anymore. I started annotating but kinda stopped halfway. I wrote down tl;dr at some footnotes. I first wasn't annoyed by the overuse of footnotes by the author, but in the end there is a page where more than 50% is a footnote. And chapter 36 (I believe...) is literally one sentence with two pages of footnotes?

Knowing the entire story, in the end, it was quite the ride. So much happened, changed, and there's definitely a underlying meaning in the entire story. But I guess, the way how dense the story was at some points, this book just wasn't for me.

4.5

Went in with a different opinion than the one I had after reading. I am shocked by everything Prince Harry and Meghan had to endure. Of course, it???s only one side of the story. But shocking nonetheless.

My first Manga ever. I was confused by the panel order at first, but got used to it. I guess it's normal that the story has such an open ending? Idk. Maybe it's to keep you reading.

Really liked it. It was cute.

4.

So, I wanted to love this book like everyone else. But there are a few things that just don???t feel right.

First of all, I was not emotionally infested at all. If it???s my current state of mind or if it???s the rushed romance, I don???t know. About the latter: I feel like the romance in the book was so terribly set up. At one point one of the character says something like ???he says something in a way that ALWAYS makes me tremble???. Always? Girl we are on one of the last pages and you never mentioned this. Whenever a character shares his love for another character I am literally surprised because there were never signs for a looming romance.

Also, we literally learn the main characters last name on page 276. Of the 321.

Also the super random way the emperor comes up to Mina in the end and says ???I dreamt of you - will you be my bride??? wtf?

This is the first book I annotated and I went WILD with the tabs. Pink, however, was for romance and smut. And I only put about 5. I expected more. And that applies to the entire book.

I found the story mostly boring and confusing. Too many names and titles, barely any descriptions of systems and people.

Dit boek heb ik niet helemaal gelezen, maar ik heb de 5-delige podcast beluisterd. De inhoud van de podcast komt nagenoeg overeen met de inhoud van het boek.

Met mijn Nederlands-Indische achtergrond ben ik altijd opgegroeid met “????n kant van het verhaal”. Voor mijn gevoel is dit de andere kant. Ik wist niet goed uit welk land mijn grootouders kwamen, en nu heb ik daar een beter beeld bij. Het boek heeft heel erg veel indruk op mij gemaakt en heeft me goed na doen denken over de afkomst van mij en mijn familie. Ik raad dit boek aan iedereen aan, de informatie die hierin staat zou verplichte lesstof moeten zijn.

DNF

I stopped when reading chapter 9 and I have no idea what happened. Even though I have no doubts this is an amazing book (hence the *** star rating) I just couldn't get through it. The hard science was too... sciency. I was buddy reading this with a friend and she was able to interpret the texts I was struggling to understand, even after reading them for about nine times. Due to the struggle to understand everything, I was unable to build a relationship with the characters and the built environment.

I read the ebook for 70% before I finally was done with the extreme arrogance and entitlement of the writer. I just couldn't handle it anymore. She just keeps repeating how amazing she is, and how much she excels at everything. How dare a royal give her a signature? That was the last drop.

For me, the focus on the boyband romance isn't even the main thing. I am literally appalled at how the band members were treated on tour. It's made me more certain that being famous isn't everything. I could feel the mental pressure that each band member experienced.

Enjoyable read **

It literally took me so long to finish this book. Somehow I expected a very spectacular ending. I was not impressed and pretty disappointed. The plot twists weren't too exciting in my opinion. Won't recommend.

I'm sad I'm done reading.

I've really enjoyed this book. It's somewhere between the Martian (which is the best) and Artemis. The plot was very surprising to me and I liked the little plot twists here and there. I'd like to see this made into a movie!

Best wel confronterend. Je hebt eigenlijk geen idee wat er allemaal in Nederland gebeurd. Ik moet zeggen dat ik eigenlijk wel steeds meer parano??de werd gaandeweg ik verder kwam in het boek, ook al probeert de schrijver je zo af en toe gerust te stellen. Wel een aanrader!

Ik vond dit zo'n fantastisch boek. De voorbeelden, uitleg en opbouw zijn zo fijn en herkenbaar. Het is heel confronterend, en in de week dat ik dit heb gelezen heb ik al heel veel mensen over de verschillende technieken verteld. En ze zijn ook relatief makkelijk in de praktijk te brengen! Als je dit uit hebt, kijk en luister je overal anders naar en probeer je het gedoe te analyseren. 10/10 would recommend, en dat heb ik ook al aan veel mensen gedaan.

Leest vrij lekker weg. Toch 3 sterren omdat ik op ‘t eind de familie toch niet zo heel erg netjes vond. De vuile was wordt wel heel erg buiten gehangen. Je kan mensen niet mogen, maar om er op haast een pesterige manier over te praten (Over Nad??ge: “helemaal klaar met die uil”!? En over Caroline: “die is niet zo slim, die snapt dat niet” en “... Ik heb nog nooit aan iemand zo'n hekel gehad”) vond ik wel een beetje jammer. Om dan nog maar te zwijgen over de dochter die zegt dat je HARD moet werken (in de zorg, daar werken ze hard) om “mooi te wonen” (in plaats van een “verschrikkelijk” rijtjeshuis met verschillende plantjes in de vensterbank).

Desondanks blijf ik wel met plezier het TV-programma kijken, maar aan een persoonlijke relatie met deze mensen zou ik mijn vingers niet durven branden na het lezen van dit boek.

DNF. It was such a struggle to get to page 100 but after every reading session I still wasn't sure what I just read.