Matt
One of those (very short) stories that I couldn't decide if I liked or not... I grabbed this as it popped up in browsing after finishing another book and I didn't feel like researching for something to read at the moment. I read it without looking at any reviews. After reading, I looked at some of the other reviews and I found one that pretty much summed up how I felt:
“Fuck if I know what this story meant .” –Jennifer Kyle.
I enjoyed this story right up until the end where it felt like the author just threw in the towel and decided to submit. The conclusion was not much of a conclusion. You could say the author was just leaving it up to the reader (or a sequel) as to what happens next, but given the deeds done, the general acceptance of it seems far fetched.
Having read most, but not all, of the Percy Jackson books a while ago has certainly impacted my feelings on this book. I didn't finish the previous series and certainly don't remember it all, but a lot of it is referenced in this which made a few of the references meaningless to me. Ont he other side, having read some of the Percy Jackson series, this felt almost the same. Obviously, this takes place in the same universe but even the main character (apollo) ended up seeming a lot like Percy in how they were written.
Solid 3 stars, nothing earth-shatteringly good, nothing horrible. Simple entertainment.
This one is basically a Goosebumps interpretation of The Monkey's Paw, written like a southpark episode. The “Shingles” series is an admitted goosebumps inspired set of stories for (physical if not mental) grown-ups and while the stories aren't great lit and are certainly offensive, they're also somewhat entertaining when you need something completely inane. I'm embarrassed to read them but I will probably continue to do so.
I had a couple people tell me they hated this book, and a couple others say they loved it. Interestingly, I'm right in the middle. I'd put it somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars. I found the lead character somewhat unlikeable but more importantly found the way she was written to be the issue. That said, I found the book overall to be interesting and entertaining. It's certainly worth giving it a try if the blurb sounds interesting to you.
I don't generally do reviews, but I was torn on this one and figured I'd write one as a reminder to myself, if nothing else. I expected to really like this book, and there were a number of things I did enjoy. That said, I never really felt engaged in this book. It was an easy read but I never felt myself captivated and never connected with the characters / cared what happened. I consider 3 stars a fairly good score - it means I enjoyed it, I just don't love it. I'll probably be willing to give the next book a try.
I wish goodreads had fractional stars. I'd put this at ~3.75. The story was fun (as is the second book) but it's a bit more of a serial than a stand alone book which is my only knock against it.
Good for if you want an easy relaxing read. I'm sure this book could offend someone, but it doesn't have any sort of heavy religious pro or con tones.
