Mer Barr

Four Doors

Story 5 of 5 - very descriptive of the concerns related to social media and its impact on lives. The plot never seems to slow down and the backstory for the opening page is sprinkled throughout, with the mystery well-hidden. It's also got alot of humour that I enjoyed.

Character 5 of 5 - a set of core characters that continue to be fleshed out the entire time, and an awful lot of secondary characters that have you constantly on your toes trying to figure out if they should be stored in short-term memory or not. I really enjoyed the whole cast.

Setting 3 of 5 - A mixed rating because the author fleshes out the humour and horrors of our real world situation but doesn't spend alot of time building out the story world beyond what's needed to do scene changes.

Language 5 of 5 - The author really takes you on an emotional roller coaster, pointing out things you really want to pretend doesn't exist in the real world and also getting you to laugh at the antics and wild stories being posted. And the narrator does an amazing job providing the humor and character building. I can't think of a book where the narrator speeds up their talking as a part of a specific character.

This was difficult but enlightening. Of course the women would have the same opinion as their well-known husbands / significant others, not sure why I came in thinking otherwise. I did find it enlightening because I was not familiar with the beginnings of Hitler's rise and how he and his group met and came together.

Well written (I'd give a 4 on that) but I just couldn't take the subject matter, hence the 3.

Four Doors

Story 5 of 5 - very descriptive of the concerns related to social media and its impact on lives. The plot never seems to slow down and the backstory for the opening page is sprinkled throughout, with the mystery well-hidden. It's also got alot of humour that I enjoyed.

Character 5 of 5 - a set of core characters that continue to be fleshed out the entire time, and an awful lot of secondary characters that have you constantly on your toes trying to figure out if they should be stored in short-term memory or not. I really enjoyed the whole cast.

Setting 3 of 5 - A mixed rating because the author fleshes out the humour and horrors of our real world situation but doesn't spend alot of time building out the story world beyond what's needed to do scene changes.

Language 5 of 5 - The author really takes you on an emotional roller coaster, pointing out things you really want to pretend doesn't exist in the real world and also getting you to laugh at the antics and wild stories being posted.

This is a massive tome at 25 hours so there was no way I'd get through this at my pace, in the 2 weeks I had access to it.

Four Doors

Character - 5 of 5 - heavily character driven. There are many characters and whose brain you're sitting in can change from chapter to chapter, thankfully the author titles chapters by their name or quickly refers to their name so you don't get too lost.

Setting - 4 of 5 - at 25 hours much of the text is describing the world, the magic, and the characters beyond the core group.

Story - 2 of 5 - progression of the story line can stall for chapters at a time, which I personally don't like. Several chapters were spent on backstory for the entire core group, which I personally did not find productive for understanding the characters (it could have been said in less chapters) nor moving the story along. I'll give it an extra .5 for an intriguing group of characters but I'm not going to spend more leisure time on a 25-hour book containing what I consider filler.

Language - 2 of 5 - good writing that does a great job of describing the people, action. The language is not the emphasis for this book.

A fantastic bibliography of Austen's works as well as books Austen refers to in her stories or personal journals and letters. Also a great mix of the author's life as a rare book dealer and her industry, and the biographies of the female authors Austen references.