WendigoLove
Two disclaimers: I have not read the first book and received this as a much anticipated Tor release.
Initially I was a bit put off by the size of the book but the author packs more in by the phrasing and what us implied than others can manage in a whole 300+ page novel. I love the strained love and expectations. I am going to find the first book now.
This is about a character we all know. That broken, strange, one who thrives alone on the edge of the norma world in fantasy. The one that often is there to give a quest and nothing more. This is a story of a perfect, broken, strange girl named Auri and it of course is a perfect broken strange story. Spending a week with her isn't for everyone, but I loved this book.
I don't read many pet books because they all start and end the same way due to natural life span differences. This was a unique view of the relationship with a elderly dachshund and her lonely, isolated, alcoholic owner. He interprets her decline through his active denial, writing skills, and dreams. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
Rather dated book with a deceptive title. At the end there was a list of 101 cunning things like ‘hire a lawyer”. The rest of the book tries to describe flaws of bird feeders in repelling squirrels using: attempts at humorous anecdotes, long winded descriptions of types of feeders (most without even a helpful photo), and ways to deal with squirrels based on a dated? “scientific” analysis of the species.
I have been wanting to read this book since it came out and was thrilled to win a copy through Goodreads. The worldbuilding and characters are amazing alone. With the plot it is up there with Dune and Ender's Game for a person rising up and changing their world - even if as a martyr. It is tough to be believable and even tougher to survive re-reading. This is an amazing book and I can't wait to read the next done.
This book was finally what I was hoping from the others. Characters not fully likable (not intended to be), but consistent with established personalities. There were complex dilemmas of genetic modification and discrimination that were interesting and there were no Simple Shiny Answers to all the problems. Satisfying ending overall.
I listened to the audio production by the BBC and it was really fun and well acted. There were some parts at the beginning not well edited that I could not hear the voices under the sound effects but that was mild. Would recommend listening to this for the sound effect and voice humor enhancing Adams' wit.
I read this during one of my rare periods of being interested in church history, philosophy, and morality debates. The murder mystery is pretty fun and set in a monastery with some good twists. While solving the mystery, there are numerous, lengthy debates about morality, church doctrine, philosophy, and if laughter is ‘good'. Very lengthy.
The characters from the first book became somewhat less likable in this one, but it was the random and glaring worldbuilding that was aggravating and kept throwing me out of the story. There may be spoilers, but most of the plot points are on the back of the book. One of the major premises of the story is that the villain is the brilliant leader of a faction of scientific/observant individuals. They are guarding by a group trained specifically for battle and fighting. And everyone is color coded. Most of the book plot is with the plan to storm the villain's headquarters and the dangers. Yet, our heroine wears the ‘wrong' colors, walks right up the street in daylight, through the unlocked and unguarded doors, through a lobby of supposedly observant people and checks in a the front desk. Who even has a front desk check in during a war??
I enjoyed learning more about an aspect of space exploration that hasn't received nearly as much attention as the SpaceMen. It was really interesting with the contrast of each decade's expectations vs what the women wanted for themselves (NASA and Life Magazine had an amount of control that would be unheard of today). The flaws were only those inherent with books of this scope- with so many women over so many years, most of the bios were necessarily thin.
Most sequels claim to show consequences of the actions of the first but feel very contrived or silly. This actually felt like a real progression of characters aging (Boys!) and their reactions to each other's changes. I really enjoyed the book plot AND characters (usually one or the other) and can't wait to read the resolution.
