Mercer

This book was very good, but there were some VERY explicit parts which felt out of tone with the rest.

If you love(d) Twilight, this book has very similar vibes. I actually was recommending it to basically any friends I knew that liked that series, however after finishing the book I felt I had to caveat and warn people.

Were it not for the very explicit parts I would likely be running right on to the next book. However, it really took me out of the story and I just don’t know that I want to carry on and experience any more.

I really wanted to love this but deeply struggled with it. Part it feels like it wants to be hard SF, but is actually written like a Becky Chambers novel. I love Becky Chambers’ books because of how different they are from “traditional” SF, and this book, unfortunately, was not able to stick that landing.

The last 17% of the book was very interesting to me, but it resolved too quickly and easily. I’m giving it a three because I thought the premise was interesting, but it’s probably more of a two because I don’t know that I’d actually recommend it to anyone. An interesting thought experiment, I suppose, but not good enough to make me want to read the next two and endure more of the same.

This was an extremely honest book by a chef who I have always admired. I appreciated knowing the ins and outs of Chang’s life and hearing his honest appraisal of his successes and failures. There was some time slippage and things seemed out of place occasionally. I also don’t imagine that someone who wasn’t a Momo-fangirl would like this as much as I did. So, 4 instead of 5.

More a three than a four to me just because the ending felt so rushed. That said, loved the narration and the tone and am excited to pick up the next one. Reminded me a lot of Kaiju Preservation society in tone and humor. Plus, can’t wait for Skarsgaard to play the titular bot.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it super duper slowly because there was so much to open up and dive into. Not only did I learn a lot about the bands, but I also learned a ton about punk history. It *also* led me to have more (and less) respect for some of the bands that I knew less about. Overall big recommend.

Second review: apparently I forgot that I read this book last year and I didn't remember until I was about halfway through this read, so I guess that suggests how good it is?

At one point, Brene Brown was the leading thinker in this space and this book was groundbreaking. At this point, the world has too much content like this and it all starts to sound the same, unfortunately.

I tried to read this twice. Both times I had to put it down. The first one at like 5% and the second one at 20. The writing is so juvenile and feels like I’m being handheld. 20% in and I still also have no sense of importance—ie, who should I care about and why?! I have other books on my to read list that won’t feel like such a slog, and this one feels too amateur to bother continuing.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it super duper slowly because there was so much to open up and dive into. Not only did I learn a lot about the bands, but I also learned a ton about punk history. It *also* led me to have more (and less) respect for some of the bands that I knew less about. Overall big recommend.