Harley

A very compelling “What If” story that I almost abandoned in the second third. The first part had a good set up, the second part started to lull and feel a bit aimless. But be the end of the second part, and throughout the third, the story really pays off. 

Even though politics are central to the plot, there's never a point in which the book preaches any political points to the reader. It feels natural based on history.

Absolutely no notes on this one. I loved Yang's version of the classic “American” Superman. Watching Superman learn who he is alongside an immigrant was a great choice. Had my kids read this one too and they greatly enjoyed it.

Some really bad and outdated takes in this book. Including that ADD is an invented maladie created by marketers to make pharma companies more money. I do distrust a lot of what pharmaceutical companies do, but as someone who actually struggles with ADHD, and has found a lot of success in treating it with medication and therapy, this was quite the slap in the face.

There are nuggets of wisdom in here, but ultimately those same nuggets can be found in other books like Rick Rubin's The Creative Act, and I would recommend just about anything else over this one.

I went through a range of emotions reading this one. I was excited about the format as I grew up reading a few similar books. Then I started to feel like the writing just wasn't there. The characters felt one-dimensional for the first quarter of the book, and sometimes felt like the author didn't understand modern technology. But this changes greatly in the second half of the book. Multiple great twists that I didn't expect with an equally unexpected ending. Some of the scenes in the last quarter are movie-like and still give me goosebumps. Will be looking for more from Hallett.

I bought this one on a whim just because of the title. What I discovered was a unique writing style that was somehow both very campy and self-aware, yet very human. Several amazing one-liners and laugh out loud scenes, and at the same time, nearly had me in tears a couple times in the last quarter of the book. I really respect that this is a loose series in the way that you can start anywhere. It's not even mentioned anywhere on the outside of the book that it's part of a series, Very tempted to go back and read the first three.