Gemma

I???ve now read all of Weir's novels, and I think I???ve got a firm idea of the type of story he likes to write. His sense of humour is always threaded through the entire book and it???s a bit of a miss for me. In this story in particular I noticed straight away the character wakes up in an unfamiliar medical environment and starts joking about tubes in his butt and alien probes. Honestly, that just wasn???t funny to me and I thought it took away from what could have been a great opening if it had been written in a less comedic style. The comedy got less intense as the book continues and I found the rest of it didn???t take away from the story but simply didn???t enhance my enjoyment.

And I think it stems from the fact that I felt like I was reading Mark Watney lite. The sense of humour is strong in all of Weir's books and I think it leaves a lot of his characters with the same flavour, jokey science nerds who are incredibly clever but can???t take anything serious. I thought that was great in the Martian but as more characters have the same attitude it becomes less fun to read. And that???s my only real complaint with Project Hail Mary. Our character is always ending up in situations that just kind of happen to him and then his superior knowledge saves him every time, and it just falls a little flat.

Aside from the character feeling juvenile, the plot was great. Another lone astronaut in space, sure, but this one didn???t feel like a re-do of The Martian. The plot was built up over the book with flashbacks adding complexity and more of that science heavy problem-solving I liked so much in his debut.

All in all, this was a fun science fiction book that I had a good time reading. I???m not sure if it has the same star quality of The Martian, but it???s not far off.

I can't believe this book is so good! It was sitting on my shelf, waiting patiently, for when I'd finally pick it up. I knew I was going to enjoy the book from the blurb and the thousands of fantastic reviews here on Goodreads, but I was nervous it would be more YA than I prefer.

What a daft worry now I've thought about it. I don't like YA books and while Victoria Schwab writes YA, V. E. Schwab decidedly does not. I think the book is well designed and fits together perfectly. Each of the characters feel like full, interesting people that I enjoyed reading from the perspective of.

There's not a single part of this book I'd change, as far as I'm considered its a perfect book.

Updated September 2018, as of re-reading:
While I agree with my previous comments regarding how much I enjoyed this book and in particular the character of Kell, my feelings about the book overall have changed a bit. I personally feel like the world could have comfortably been up to 200 pages longer to flesh out the world and the characters established relationships and give the world a more three dimensional feel.

I can't believe this book is so good! It was sitting on my shelf, waiting patiently, for when I'd finally pick it up. I knew I was going to enjoy the book from the blurb and the thousands of fantastic reviews here on Goodreads, but I was nervous it would be more YA than I prefer.

What a daft worry now I've thought about it. I don't like YA books and while Victoria Schwab writes YA, V. E. Schwab decidedly does not. I think the book is well designed and fits together perfectly. Each of the characters feel like full, interesting people that I enjoyed reading from the perspective of.

There's not a single part of this book I'd change, as far as I'm considered its a perfect book.

Updated September 2018, as of re-reading:
While I agree with my previous comments regarding how much I enjoyed this book and in particular the character of Kell, my feelings about the book overall have changed a bit. I personally feel like the world could have comfortably been up to 200 pages longer to flesh out the world and the characters established relationships and give the world a more three dimensional feel.

The cover is what first drew me to this book, months ago when I added it to my GR wishlist. Soon after I heard it was inspired by Russian folklore, which only intrigued me further. Some reviews came in from GR and YT, which made me more and more interested. Finally, I was gifted a gorgeous edition for Christmas and decided to pick The Bear and the Nightingale up after at least a year.

This is a fantastical historical fiction novel set in 14th century Russia. I found the fairy tale-esque writing style to be captivating and really set the tone of the story well. The book follows Vasya, a young girl who can see spirits in the world around her. This greatly complicates her life as she grows older and becomes one of the only people in her village to believe. Branded a witch, Vasya has to step up and protect her family from dangers only she knows exist.

I was surprised by the length of this tale, as I was reading it as an ebook borrowed from the library and could not see the thickness of the novel in my hands. So much happens in this book, it's almost impossible to recount it all.

I found this book enchanting, and it gave me the same feelings as reading North Child by Edith Pattou. It would be fair to say that the worldbuilding and atmosphere are really what set this book apart from others. While Vasya as a character was admirable and inspires a lot of love from the reader, the cold and creepy atmosphere that creeps in throughout the book kept me absorbed in the pages as I read.

Update: I re-read this book over the past two days, and I really really enjoyed it. I think this series is a top YA series for me. And I still stand by my reasoning behind not giving a full five stars in my original review. Onto the next few books so I can pick up Bloodwitch!!

If I was the type to give half stars, this would be 4.5 stars.

Truthwitch is a fantastic tale of friendship between two young women as they face to save their own lives. And I adored it. I don't really read YA because it doesn't keep me guessing enough, but this book had enough going on that I loved every second.

I have only two complaints. Firstly, there wasn't enough world building for the world to feel clear. I had absolutely no clue what a thread witch was for the longest time or why they needed to keep emotionless. I think the story would be vastly improved if the different aspects of the world and it's history had been introduced more carefully.

Another complaint would be regarding the dramatic use of language. It was not a common occurrence, and I'm quite sensitive to melodrama in my media, so it was a forgivable sin in my case. However, what on earth does “stasis in my fingers and toes” mean? Because stasis means inactivity and unless the character is hoping for paralysis I have no clue what she means.