kaiielle
Can't believe I started this book back in April 2024 and only finished it now. Ayyy, long slumps with no reading at all are fun! Anyway, I'm happy to be back into regular reading again and I knew this was the book I wanted to pick back up because it would make for a quick win in finishing it.
It's definitely my least favourite of The Expanse series so far, but is still a good time the whole way through. I do think the ending of it felt pretty rushed (especially since that was all I read, having read the first 75% or so back in 2024 haha).
Very excited to continue! Especially since I've seen the show and know what's coming.
My only takeaway from this book is that I shouldn't worry about coming off a certain “way” with my personality, because there will always be people that love that way, as is evident by how many people love Jenny, including PAST ME (more on that in a sec). But there will also be people that don't love it at all. Confirming that everyone just needs to be authentically themselves all of the time.
This book was enjoyable for me for the first 25% or so. I was having fun with the style of humour and even laughed out loud a few times. Choosing to do this in audiobook format helped because Jenny could naturally talk in the exact tone and inflections that she intended through her words. But then after that it started to become painful to get through the book because it just ended up being more of the same and a lot of things felt repeated to me. The out loud laughing turned into eyerolls.
But I refused to DNF this book! And in the end, I'm glad that I didn't because there were a handful of really great moments where Jenny talked about mental health in a wonderful way that resonated with me and I think would resonate with most people.
Unfortunately, most of the book is not like that at all. This book is a lot like binge-reading someone's personal blog. Which makes sense after finding out after reading it that Jenny Lawson is behind The Bloggess, which came as a big surprise to me! I remember reading The Bloggess here and there regularly back in the early 2010s, when I read various blogs all the time. I just went back to some of her posts from that time and the writing style and humour is exactly the same as it is in this book.
This just proves to me that I have changed as a person! Jenny's style of humour and writing is no longer my cup of tea, but I am glad that she is a lot of people's cup of tea.
An enjoyable read overall. I didn't have high expectations going in, but I learned a thing or two and there was a lot of information in here that was just really good to hear, you know? Don't think I'll ever read it again, unless I feel like I need the reminders, but there are some things within this book that I don't think I'll ever forget!
A really cute novella that is basically a Hallmark Christmas movie, but with a lot more flirting and sex and alcohol.
While it's definitely not the best book in the series (it's my least favourite so far) it is still an enjoyable read and it was nice to just kick back and vibe to something a lot more chill. I am glad the book wasn't much longer than it was though, and honestly, I think it could have still been fine with 50 fewer pages.
Can't tell you how excited I am to finally get to a book where the focus is on other people. I love Rhys and Feyre to death, but I'm so ready for new perspectives, and this book was a good tease for that.
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars.
Y'all, this book took me over a YEAR to read through fully. I won't lie, I kept getting uninterested in the middle of this book. And my brain got occupied by so many other things throughout this past year.
But here we are, finally finished.
I will say, I am glad that I powered through because the last 10-15 chapters or so were a ride and really good. But yeah, that middle section...
For that, I am rating this the lowest out of the series so far. Very excited to continue on to the next two books now that I am firmly back in love with this world and its people. EDIT: A Court of Frost and Starlight was a solid 3 stars, so this is no longer the lowest.
I watched The Expanse for the first time last year and quickly fell in love with the story, the characters, the politics, and the universe. With Season 6 wrapping things up, I figured it was time to read the books. I purchased all 9, and Leviathan Wakes was the special 10th-anniversary edition, which is now easily the prettiest book I own. I didn't want to read from it, so I borrowed the audiobook from my library.
Unexpected life circumstances resulted in me having to drive a LOT this month, so in hindsight, I am very glad I ended up getting the audiobook as it made the drives more pleasant. The narration completely enhanced my experience reading this book. Jefferson Mays is incredible and was perfect at portraying each character, especially Alex. I thought he sounded so much like Cas Anvar's Alex from the TV show. I also thought he was amazing at the thick Belter accent. As much as I want to read the physical books, I have a feeling I'll be listening to the audiobooks just so I can continue to get this wonderful audio experience.
I know that most people prefer to read books before they watch the film or TV series that was made from said books, and I used to feel that way, but I'm honestly the opposite now. I'm a very visual reader. I am constantly creating a “movie” of the book in my head as I'm reading it. I've always been that way. So if I've already seen the visuals prior to reading the book, it makes reading the book much more enjoyable for me as I don't have to spend as much energy creating the visuals myself. I can just go from memory. The TV show nailed so many epic things about this book, that I am so excited to continue reading the series.
This book was amazing and satisfied so many gaps and unanswered questions that I had from the show that I didn't realize that I had. I loved getting more insight into everything. I especially enjoyed the differences between the book and the TV show. Holden and Naomi's relationship was more satisfying in Leviathan Wakes compared to the TV show. I also preferred the entire situation with the Donnager in Leviathan Wakes. I was pleasantly surprised at what I was reading when that was all playing out.
My favourite character from the TV show is Amos and he was definitely my favourite character in the book as well. Holden and Miller are also big favourites and while I enjoyed how this book focused on their two perspectives, I am excited for perspectives from other major characters in future books.
An enjoyable read and an easy 5 star rating for me.
Damn, it's been a long time since I read a book of this length that quickly. This completely hooked me.I had a strong feeling going into this that I would love it. I knew non-spoilery things about some of the characters, but it was mostly just names and what they looked like. I knew nothing about the world, the plot, or the romances.Sarah's writing is phenomenal, and I know things really pick up throughout the rest of the series so I cannot wait to dive in. I need more of Feyre, Tamlin, and Rhysand. Gimme, gimme!–Edit - May 2021: I had originally rated this 5 stars, but have downgraded it to 4 after reading [b:A Court of Mist and Fury 17927395 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) Sarah J. Maas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406996l/17927395.SY75.jpg 25126749].
Was this book written well? Honestly, not really.
Did this book have literally any event occur outside of the romance? No. I'm honestly still confused by the place they worked at or what they even did for their jobs.
But did this book make me feel all kinds of things? Yes.
Did each chapter end on a cliff hanger that made me want to immediately read the next chapter? Yes.
Did this book build up the romance with a slow-burn? Yes (though could have been slower).
So did I enjoy this book? Absolutely, yes!
TBH, I don't know if I should be reading any romance book during the current panorama/panini/pandemic, because I feel like I'll just like them all simply due to the fact that IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII have not had anything romantic happen with me since the end of 2019. So I will just live vicariously through all of these characters until I start dating again.
This book was particularly hard-hitting for me as I had an experience many years ago with my own version of Josh. Hot co-worker that I could see from across the room, who I “disliked” and poked at, but whose shell I so desperately wanted to crack.
So yeah, I liked it.
There are many other reviews people have written that detail the flaws in the book that I also noticed, but were not enough for me to dislike the book.
I was really excited to read this book as I just finished watching the tv show. I was quite disappointed with this book, to be honest. It wasn't awful, but it jumped around a lot and didn't particularly keep me super engaged or interested. I loved the tv show though, and I'll be watching that again. Just won't read the book again.
I like space. My favourite movie of all time is Interstellar. A friend recommended this book and I was intrigued.
I'm not one for the mathematical equations or complicated explanations, so this was a very good read for me. I like that the author places the reader as the main “character” in this book. It definitely kept my interest up throughout the whole thing, because I kept thinking “I wonder where I will go next.”
I was never bored at any point during this read and I learned so much. My brain very much exploded during the whole quantum sections and the talk about Schr??dinger's cat and parallel universes. I just finished watching The Man In The High Castle so parallel universes was very fresh on the mind and it became a lot.
I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who is interested in space and astrophysics.
I binge watched the show back in April, and immediately knew that I needed to read the books. Sometimes watching films/shows prior to reading the books is beneficial. While I can be good at creating visuals in my head while reading a book, sometimes it's a struggle, so having the visuals from the show in such vivid memory was nice while reading this book. Even more so that I am re-watching Season 1 currently.
There are so many reviews that explain the plot and characters, so I won???t dive into it here. What did I like about this book?
Characters: Tyrion, Jon and Dany (especially last 1/4 of the book Dany)
Houses: Stark, because direwolves, duh
Locations: The Eyrie - the way it was described in the book and having the visuals from the show, what a freaking cool place. Winterfell. Beyond the Wall (can???t wait for more in the books to come).
The conversations.
Anything I didn???t like?
Some descriptions are just too descriptive. Boring.
Sansa. If I didn???t know anything about her future, I???d honestly hate her. But there are always characters that you???re not going to like - this shouldn???t always affect the review of the book.
Ned???s dumbassery.
I wish this book had touched more on what The Others are.
This was such an odd story to me. It has lots of high ratings so please don't let my 2 star rating keep you from reading this. But it just wasn't for me. I kept thinking “What is the point of this?” throughout the whole story and when it finally started to ramp up and get interesting in the last 100 pages, it really only lasted for around 75 of them. For a 316 page book, that leaves a lot of blah.
I will admit that Jared was a pretty good character and I liked the interactions him and Sarah had, but it wasn't enough to make me like the story.
What a story! I genuinely can???t remember what prompted me to want to read this book, especially knowing it was about the building of a cathedral in England around 1,000 years ago. But I am so glad that I read this as the characters and stories and events outside of the actual cathedral building kept me interested. This is good, as the story covers a 50 year period!
I became so immersed into these characters. Speaking of the characters, it???s so hard to pinpoint who the ???main??? character is. There are easily 4 or 5 of them. I was very fond of both Jack and Aliena throughout the entire book. But I also liked Philip and Tom. I was also very intrigued about Jonathan and I kind of wish there had been more of him in the story.
It took me nearly 16 hours to read this book. I wish the chapters had been shorter. I liked that there were breaks in the chapters themselves, though. I just felt that with this book I knew I should commit to reading at least 50 pages in a sitting.
I???m not sure when I will read this again, but I think next time I will listen to the audiobook. :) Now, should I read Books 2 and 3? One day... First I will watch the mini-series! (Edit - May 2021: I did end up watching the mini-series shortly after reading this and loved that too!)
