Kyle

The ratings for this book are pretty low, but I loved this one. Something about Paula Hawkins and her writing & characters really click for me.

There's a few threads too many to this mystery, but it kept me fascinated all the way through, even when it was more obvious/predictable. I wish one thread at the very end wasn't such an afterthought, but nonetheless, I was entertained the whole way through.

Yeah... this one just wasn't for me. It was kind of entertaining in a strictly popcorn sense, but even then I don't really have anything positive to note.

Maybe this works better as a longer piece, but it's social messaging really feels rather rushed/unrealistic

Unfortunately, this one just did not work for me at all

4.5 stars

I'm not at all surprised to see someone option this to make a film adaptation. It's visceral, bloody, intense, a couple nicely placed twists and turns, and even darkly humorous at times.

I found some of the dialogue hit the themes a little too on the nose at times and the writing could have been tuned up in places, but it's a great read.

Something about the pacing didn't work for me with this one, but I see the vision and am excited to read S.A. Cosby's other books.

He's a great writer with a fully realized main character. I love the conclusion. I have no complaints as soon as the FINAL “final plan” starts to come together and Beauregard shows how far he's willing to go to protect his family.

I think this is objectively a 4-star book for the quality of writing, characterization, etc., but I'm giving it a 3-star rating because I really struggled to get invested, particularly for the first half. I don't know if it was just pacing, or if it was a combination of that, a reading slump, etc.

I'd still recommend this book and am really looking forward to see how some of his other concepts pan out

I love Patrick Ness and the way he's always willing to take an unconventional approach to storytelling, but this one is really just a sketch of a great story. I'll always give credit for trying something different. It's just completely unmemorable.

I also am puzzled what is the age group this book is intended for with a lot of the creative choices made vs. the actual content

Unfortunately, while the story is really interesting, the book isn't written well. As other reviews have noted, a ghost writer might have been a better avenue here. Another round of heavy editing is also needed, as the repetitive nature of conveying information was pretty out of control.

Great story, lackluster execution. Would definitely be open to watching the film adaptation

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this one a lot, but kind of walked away wishing there was more from the plot. It felt a little too meandering for me.

Angie Thomas writes great characters

4.5 stars

I wanted to like this one more, but I don't think it was bad at all.

I really loved how creative the story was, the characters, writing, etc. It's honestly one of the more unique YA fantasies I've read and I loved the Little Red Riding Hood reimagining.

I had a tough time getting invested - although this had the same narrator as Cruel Beauty, it's tough as an American to listen to a British narrator who is ALSO reading a lot of French words. I had to rewind and slow down quite a bit to make sure I was understanding and following along.

It's not a flaw of the book or even the narrator, but it impacted my investment/listening experience and I rate based on what I was feeling while reading/listening to a book, in addition to the normal book rating factors.

Still recommend both this and Cruel Beauty.

4.5 stars

Some of the story beats were predictable, and the ending is a little confusing for me (perhaps this is a con of the audiobook), but it's beautifully written and features a complex cast of characters

A very clever book, even though I did predict the twist awhile before (although not the most disturbing part of it).

I almost wished this one had been an adult novel, because although I've seen reviews saying this is YA - and perhaps I'm wrong - I don't think this is anything that extreme for a 16/17 year old.

It definitely deals with strong/mature themes, but I don't find the scenes overly gratuitous for YA.

I'm kind of amazed at how bad this book was.

After I read Court's debut novel years ago, Faking Normal, I'm shocked this was written by the same author. The premise is incredibly intriguing, with execution that's nonsensical.

The plot moves at such a breakneck pace that every human interaction in the book makes no sense - particularly the Nyla/Sam friendship/relationship. Which, I will add, the shoehorning of a possible romance was so unnecessary to the plot.

The twists are pretty insane, albeit somewhat entertaining, but still make the book feel like a mess and result in even more unnatural interactions.

I just don't really have much to say to justify giving this a higher rating. I was mildly entertained, but I wouldn't say I liked it - at all. This has probably soured me on any future books by Stevens, unfortunately.

This probably does work better as a film

So disappointed in this one.

Holly Black in general is a hit-or-miss author for me. When she's great, she's great and one of the more original writers in YA especially. Unfortunately, this is one of the bigger misses I've read from her.

In a lot of ways, this book reminded me of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Slower-paced adult urban fantasies with unique (but still confusing) magic systems that start out with a murder of a seemingly random character.

Whereas Ninth House improved in the second half for me, I don't think Book of Night ever really hit its stride to me. I felt like around the halfway mark a twist was introduced that felt like it would improve the book, but it still just draaaaaggggeeedddd. I've been reading this one on-and-off since October 2022, never able to really get into it. I really shouldn't have forced myself to finish this, but I really did want to like it because I do like Holly Black.

Similar to Ninth House, I found reading about the background of the main character far more compelling than the present-day mystery.

I unfortunately don't see myself reading a second book, because although Charlie is an interesting character (I think this book would be enormously helped by first person, but that's a stylistic preference), this was so unmemorable I wouldn't remember anything that happened in this book a year from now.

I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting, but I'm surprised by just how much I did enjoy it.

This is a surprisingly dark, bloody reimagining of a classic story. My only complaint is that I wish it had gone even darker - but it stands strong on its own as is.

3.5 stars

I feel like I enjoyed some of the individual stories more than I enjoyed the collection as a whole. Overall, I found myself not really drawn to come back and keep reading this one, even when I was enjoying individual stories. Ted Chiang is clearly a very talented writer and I would be interested in reading other stories by him, but something about this just wasn't holding my attention overall the way I wanted.

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - 4/5Exhalation - 3/5What's Expected of Us - 4/5The Lifecycle of Software Objects - 4/5 (ended up my favorite even though I was indifferent at first)Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny - 4/5The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling - 4/5The Great Silence - 4/5Omphalos - 3/5Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom - 3.5/5

I think ultimately I preferred the idea of this more than the execution. I do love what E. Lockhart was trying to do though and wish we got more YA books like this - a beautiful message told in a unique way.

The multiple universes did work for me and I think helped elevate the story. I think the dialogue, which I loved in books like her Ruby Oliver series, just didn't click with me this time. You'll always know when you're reading an E. Lockhart book, but something about these characters and their interactions just wasn't resonating with me in the same way.

4.5 stars

I think with time this could drop to 4 stars - but this is a vicious, bloody finale with a surprisingly satisfying conclusion to this tangled web of relationships.

I'm really impressed with what Kiersten White was able to do with this trilogy. There's not a single “weak” book of the three, although I do think the first is the strongest. It's a unique story, with one of the most unique trio of main characters I've read about.

My only real qualm with this last book is that I think it loses steam around 2/3-3/4 of the way in, with a slightly anticlimactic resolution. I think the path chosen for the resolution was surprisingly fitting and interesting, but it does end such a violent and dramatic trilogy rather quietly.

This series is definitely worth reading, from start to finish, which is not something that can be said about a lot (maybe most) series. And I've been glad to discover while reading that the actual story of Vlad the Impaler is also a very interesting moment in history that I've never really learned before.

Dull, painfully predictable, and extremely bizarre, I actually can't find a single thing I enjoyed about this one unfortunately. I honestly struggled to not DNF this one because I had the audiobook and knew I could adjust the speed to keep myself going (although I would've liked to go even faster if the accents were a bit easier to understand).

It actually got frustrating how obtuse some of the characters were to drag out this mystery. It felt like a huge blinking neon sign was over the killer. I understand some of the denial the characters may have been facing but... come on. Could we as the reader not also been given the opportunity to have some denial ourselves? The killer didn't even seem to be that convincing at hiding themselves.

Also, did we need some sort of strange half-romance shoehorned in here? It was truly just strange and added nothing of value

While I don't think this is as strong as the first book, it is still a great read and sets up a bloody finale

Entertaining, even if the plot is a little too driven by the bad choices of the characters

This one was tough for me to rate. I haven't read one of Leigh Bardugo's books in nearly 10 years, since Shadow & Bone. I think this is a noticeable improvement, I did enjoy it, but there's also a lot I didn't like:

-The pacing is pretty atrocious at times, particularly the beginning for the first 115 pages or so (this is obviously a matter of personal taste)
-Alex is an interesting character - I found myself much more interested in her background at times than the present-day story
-The world felt overly complicated: I definitely appreciate the amount of thought that went into it, but I had a hard time keeping up with details, especially some of the House names; I don't think I can tell you still which one does what
-There were a lot of times where the mystery felt sooo much easier to solve than Alex was making it; I didn't have the whole thing figured out but I felt I was closer to the right direction with the same info Alex had - I do think Bardugo's mystery was interesting though, more so the answers and where it went
-This is totally a preference thing, but the writing was too dense at times; I really don't care too much about detail for setting, it can be nice, but especially when pacing is already iffy, it bogged this down at times
-Ending was good & left me interested in reading the next book (the second half is definitely MUCH better overall than the first)

I did see another review compare this unfavorably to the Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane, and I can definitely understand the comparisons. It's not an exact replica but it has a similar vibe and MC. DG is less dense and faster paced overall, but is also written to be enjoyed in a more simple way.

I'm definitely going to give Hell Bent a read when it comes out. If it's at the same level or better as this one, I'd read a third, but if it's not as good, probably not just due to pacing alone.

Honestly, I'd give this book 1 star if it weren't for the one strong stretch around maybe the 350-page mark. The book didn't maintain that momentum, but it's enough to not give it 1 star.

Why was this written? Why was it over 515 pages when it's maybe a 250 page book? Why did it take so long for anything to happen? Why do all the characters talk the same, and why is it always so cringey? This book is really John Green for those of us in the LGBT community, and we can do better. I'm only 23, so it's not hard to remember what my friends and I talked about in high school. It's not that we never talked about real world issues, but we never talked about them like we were 60 years old. We were smart kids, but we were KIDS.

It's nice to see a book tackle so many issues like feminism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc. - but when every conversation about the topic is so unnatural and forced, it just feels like Benjamin Alire Saenz wanted to write an essay on the topics and just decided to write a sequel to his very popular book because it would sell better.

The ending is also super rushed and feels like it needed another conflict to tag on to the end. It's introduced and resolved literally in less than 35 pages (pg. 484-516 to be exact).

There are some moments of beauty in this book, however, a lot of it is boring, the characterization was a mess (Ari feels and reads like a completely different character, even though the book picks up right where the first left off), overly intellectual/unrealistic dialogue for the age of its cast, and above all, POINTLESS. I wasn't a huge fan of the first book either, but I could appreciate and understand why people loved it, especially for the time when it was published. Even with all the strides in LGBT rights, YA fiction was still very focused on heterosexual stories. This was simply a cash grab.

I feel like even if you liked the first book, you can skip this one. The first book ends perfectly fine as is.