Jen
Thank you Tandem Collective for sending me the book for a read-along! It was great fun.
I don't know what it is about Rebecca Yarrios but her writing is just so easy to read yet compelling and almost addictive. If I hadn't been part of the read-along I would've just flown through this book (and even then I ended up reading ahead of schedule)! I think Yarros writes dialogue in particular really well, and each character has a unique tone. I was never confused about who was speaking, or the characters who were narrating during the chapter POVs. I know nothing about Ballet but this does have the feel of a sports romance, and it was nice to see some of the sports and the world of ballet. The cast of characters were all unique and felt natural. The only reason I can't give this a 5 star is that sometimes there were just one too many plot twists, but again I think that's a staple of Yarros' books and probably what makes them so addictive and fun to read. Additionally, there are quite a lot of Americanisms and sometimes I had to shut the book and think ‘Do people really talk like that?!'
If you like contemporary romance with lots of twists and turns and a great supporting cast of characters, then I recommend this. It's not a simple boy-meet-girl but a fleshed-out, semi-realistic romance which I thoroughly enjoyed!
I am not the target audience for this book but I'm trying to diversify my reading. I really wanted to like this more but it just wasn't for me: I thought the romance was meh, the so called ‘fake datinf' exceedingly tedious and with over 400 pages of long chapters, there wasn't really very much that happened. As always this is just my opinion. I really enjoyed the snippets of ‘Love in Colour's that I've read so far and this felt like a totally different writer. A pity!
I really REALLY wanted to like this. The potential is there! And despite this I probably will read the sequel but more likely wait for the paperback. I can wait.
BUT this is marketed as adult but is very much YA. I had to score this down too, as there were many typos, extra spaces, grammatical and punctuation errors in my copy (via Illumicrate) which I was terribly off-putting. There were also several plot holes and continuity errors. But then again this author wrote this when she was a teenager (which shows) but is also impressive. How many other teenagers can write a 500 page book spanning centuries, and is just part one of three?
I think the series will get better over time, as the writer matures and naturally improves.
You can read my full review on my website here: www.jennifermclayton.com
First and foremost, this is not my usual sort of book. At all. Look through my Goodreads page and you will see a variety of fiction from classics to high fantasy: not ‘chick-lit'. And yet, here I am, reviewing a book that I wouldn't have picked up if it had not been recommended to me (thank you, Alice)!
Fangirl is a sweet novel about a young woman who has just started university, is a bit of a bookworm and writes fanfiction in her spare time about her favourite franchise. She loves writing doesn't want to write about her own characters, and she's got quite an internet following of readers. Anyway, Cath is the sort of girl who would rather stay home and write than go out partying at uni. She struggles to fit in and just wants to hide and write her fanfiction. Of course, she makes friends and learns that there is more to life than fanfic and also falls for a guy friend. The end.
Okay, wait - did someone just step into my life? Wrote fanfiction? Check. Gathered a small following for said fanfiction online? Check. Loves writing and a bookworm? Check. Yikes. I know that's fairly broad and cliche but still.
Read the full review: http://www.jennifermclayton.com/blog
This was much, much better than the previous book. The characters are now well established and felt comfortable in their environment and situations. I felt a growing warmth to both Strike and Robin and the plot in this one seemed more realistic, perhaps because the literature world is something the author clearly needs no introduction too.
Perhaps my main criticism is that it was quite long with a drawn-out plot and Robin's sub-plot gave up about half way through.
It shall be interesting to see where the series goes from here. I am confident that it can only get better as this one did not suffer from ‘second book syndrome'.
This book felt like a bit of a mess. I wasn't sure who to root for or who I should feel emotion towards and when deaths occurred, I wasn't effected at all. Typical Sanderson where the last 40 pages were just info dump. I felt that I could've skipped 300 pages and enjoyed more. It's been left open for a sequel or two, but I really hope that doesn't happen. A shame when some parts are well written and the magic system is so unique. I expected more: one of Sanderson's weaker books by far.
It was interesting. I'm not really into crime novels but I've read my fair share and it really grew on me. Much easier and perhaps more enjoyable to read that The Casual Vacancy, but not nearly as articulate or subtle. Felt very ‘dumbed-down' for a larger audience. Nonetheless, this felt very different to Rowling's previous works, which is no bad thing.
This was a big disappointment. I really enjoyed Kingmaker Kingbreaker as well as the prequel but this sequel was just lacking in everything.
It took 400 pages for the plot to appear, and it was pretty obvious what the plot would be too from the first line of the book.
Most of it felt like fanfiction with the romance, and the rivalry between Rafe & Arlin was just unbelievable.
The final 100 pages were really good, and the final scene was tense but could've been done much longer.
In summary, the really long parts could've been short, and the short ones could've been long.
I shall crack on with the next book with the faint hope that the good writing of the final few pages will continue into the next books...
This was a slow starter. whilst it was very good to learn about Barl and Morgan and get to know them as people, there was far too much going on and yet nothing happening. When they journeyed to Lur towards the end, I was dismayed to find it gently passed over, even though this could've been a very tense and brilliant part of the book. I enjoyed the book, but i wanted so much more and felt the later 100 pages of the book should have had a slower pace. It is good how Miller changed the light on Barl and Morgan and how what they did started off innocently.
This is a short review simply because I am now starting the sequel to The Innocent Mage...
I opened this book with an open mind: I had simply loved Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy for the brilliant characters and surprising twists, as well as being able to make me laugh and cry. But then, after I had read the sequel Alloy ofLaw, I was disappointed with the poor writing style and the Hollywood-esque action, and grew no attachment to the characters. I have no idea what their names are and the book felt like a first draft with so much repetition.
But this review is for Elantris, which he wrote before all the books mentioned. As is said, I went with an open mind.
The imagination behind Elantris itsself was compelling. I loved the idea of this cursed city, and I found that the chapters that took place inside Elantris with Raoden were much stronger than those with Sarene in Kae. Sarene was an interesting character: a strong willed female battling it out in a man's world. She is a great heroine with a few Hermione traits, but one thing that was starting to annoy me, was that even though she was so strong and determined and mature, she still wanted to be married in an almostn unhealthy way. She always knew that she would get married for politics and not love, yet she still couldn't face that fact. I found the ending of the book between her and Raoden happy more for the sake of Raoden and what he had been through, not Sarene.
There were many Americanisms in this book which is frustrating to read when you are reading a fantasy. For example ‘well that was totally unexpected'. Totally dude. Greece was a sudden influx of plot movement towards the end in the last 100 pages as if Sanderson had realised that he had left lots of holes and unexplained stories. In the end they were just rushed, especially the realisation of what Sarenes uncle really was and his step son being Elantrian. I had to re-read a few passages towards the end to remind myself who some of the characters were. Karata was another good character whose death at the end was glossed over and briefly mentioned.
Overall it was enjoyable to read and the imagination behind the story really held it together. But there were far too many characters who didn't stand out and after a moderate pace throughout, going from 20mph to 200mph in plot speed and development, was just unbelievable, clumsy and ruined the book. Saying this, because I enjoyed Mistborn so much, I am looking forward to dreaded adding more of Sanderson's work, although Mistborn is by far his best that I have read so far.
It is worth pointing out that the edition I read only had the story of Jekyll & Hyde, and no other tales. Despite its short length, I found it a little hard to absorb everything, and I was only really complelled to finish the book when it came to the final 2 chapters.
I really enjoyed the later part of the books, probably because the 1st person narration made it far mor interesting, engaging and personal. The final chapter from Dr Jekyll's perspective is brilliant and compelling, and I was craving more, which is a good sign.
Although, in my personal opinion, I do believe that this book would've worked better if it had just been from Dr Jekyll's perspective and narration because even though the 3rd person narrative from the rest of the book creates the sense of mystery and intruige, I found it far more frightening seeing into Dr Jekyll's mind and that of Mr Hyde.
Despite numerous flaws with this book, I couldn't put it down. I was drawn to the ‘characters', who lived such different lives in North Korea. So much was tragic and, perhaps what kept me reading was the human aspect of the subject matter, which is why I chose it rather than picking out any other book about North Korea.
The book has taught me a lot: Demick needn't have mentioned Orwell, as his image depicted in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four' is reality in North Korea, which is what I find so fascinating. Without a doubt this book has sparked my interest in North Korea, even though it was full or repetition and clumsy grammar. It has inspired me to do further research into Korea and the divide of the country, as I formulate a fiction from this fact. Alough, I will be suprised if I find another book on Korea that compells me as much as this and keeps me interested without boring me with facts, figures and statistics. Sure. ‘Nothing to Envy' had plenty of figures, but it wasn't overwhelming to read.
On the other hand, because of this and because most of the stories were told to Demick verbally, at times I had trouble believeng it, and it felt like I was reading a blasé fiction book set in North Korea.
I think the ending was rushed, with too little time spent on how they escaped and adapting their lives thereafter. But even though the book has frustrated me because of the fiction feel about it; it has made me seriously think about the lives of those in North Korea and my imagination has gone wild. Without a doubt, I will be doing more research into Korea.
Was listening to the audiobook, then my subscription expired and the news about Gaiman came out and yeah, I'm not inclined to finish this anytime soon.
Clunky writing, unlikable narrator, absolutely no plot moving forward. A slog with casual violence against women thrown in for shits and giggles. Ugh.