nachosorcheetos

Not the author's finest work. It was a slog until chapter 32 after which it picked up pace. 5 stars for the remaining chapters, no stars for the preceding ones.

My first comic book read - I really enjoyed it. While I'm neither Pakistani or Muslim, it was relatable to me as a South Asian.

It's an interesting one. I like that the author doesn't shy away from taking things too far and for the most part I liked the book. A very befitting ending. But halfway through it I realised why I was struggling - the characters feel like caricatures. It's hard to believe the emotions behind the words they're uttering and the actions they're committing. For a book that explores what it might mean to be human, that's a shame.

I think I'm gonna follow instructions and read this again, but backwards.

For context, I watched the movie first - didn't understand it. I hoped the book would paint a clearer picture, and it did, but I'm still unsure what to feel about it.

I'm not really sure why I'm putting so much effort into this one. But I want to like it, and I'm giving it ample opportunities to win me over. Hopefully it does, eventually.

I appreciate what it's going for.

What happens when someone takes what if... to a whole new level. And what happens if that someone relies on what if... to answer a morbid question. Nothing good, probably.

Also, is it weird that I liked the stilted conversations?

It is a surreal tale, like an adult version of Aesop's fables. The writing is simple yet it finds a way to be heartwrenching. All I felt while reading the book was a feeling of despair.

By the end of the book, you'll have learnt to take everything with a grain of salt, so hopefully that means taking the contents of the book with a grain of salt as well. After all, you're still being told what to believe, it's just that it goes against the conventional knowledge he harps on about.

While this book teaches critical thinking I'm afraid it goes the other direction as well. Skepticism is good but branding experts as selfish bastards and later clarifying that all humans are selfish bastards (wait, just most) an interesting strategy in a world that is rife with antivaxxers and flat-earthers and god knows what else.

1 star for the mental health chapter, 1 star for the occasional nose-exhale and the earnestness.

I really like Rose and Rosie but if you were to take the pages of the book that were worth reading and count them, you'd have a very short book

My thoughts on the first book are the same for this one - while devastating things occur within these pages, the style of writing lessens the blow. Nevertheless, it's executed in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're missing out on any aspect of the story.

I think this sequel is much better than its predecessor, and it ties together different scientific concepts in a way that flows very well.

it was such a wholesome, loving story. it warmed my heart.

i was the writing style a bit unnatural. but i don't think that's worth knocking down any stars for.

i always get excited when the formatting of a book is a little different. This reads like files, and while it does a fantastic job in formulating a seamless story, it still left me wanting more.

Some devastating things happen to the protagonists, yet I failed to feel the impact as I wasn't able to connect with the characters through their dialogue which failed to allow their personalities to seep through.

It's a wonderful work of fiction regardless.

It combined giant robots with alien civilisations and threw in government conspiracies and a touch of religion too. All this while simultaneously being limited by the format, which is quite impressive.

It is also a very visual novel so I was disappointed that there were no accompanying graphics. Though that's a personal qualm.

it's a classic and i always fare terribly when i try to rate them because nostalgia plays a big role in it and i can't help but give this 5 stars.

I won't lie and say that I didn't skip the poems or the painstaking descriptions of the surroundings, but hey, that's what makes this book what it is

I've never read a book like this before.

It is the most uncomfortable book I've ever read. It leaves you feeling sticky and itchy and makes you want to tear the pages out.

I think it takes great skill to write a book this messed up. So I can't help but think highly of it.

also, I really liked the ending. That's usually what lets me down but this was tied together sufficiently well.

Birdbox was amazing. The sequel was almost as good.

The horrors were more psychological in this one, and you get to deal with the added bonus that is teen angst and anxious parenting (both with good reason). This diluted the experience quite a bit for me as it made it more of a YA novel than a thriller.

The book tied up the teen angst sufficiently well but it left me aching for the mother (and the kids) for what she put herself through and what she had to put the kids through. But she helped them survive all those years so maybe it was all worth it.

Turns out insanity is not just something the insane undergo. It might very well be a human trait.

(Not in the literal sense, please put down your pitchforks).

Honestly my thoughts on the book swing both ways.

1) there's at the very least 9 parts to the book, so it's tedious. In spite of this, i think each part was fleshed out very well, so this might be a book that would benefit from you taking breaks from or it might feel neverending
2) there's a lot of descriptors, and I can't remember a million descriptors, so I just had to brush over them. essentially, there was a lot of brushing over to do
3) the descriptors were also the best part of the book, cause I've never felt magic as wonderfully as I did in this book
4) Kasia and the protagonist's relationship was wonderful and unwavering, and it's not often you come across a book describing the intense love you might feel for your friends
5) for that same reason, the relationship between the protagonist and her love interest is uninteresting as it doesn't compare to her adoration for Kasia
6) the protagonist's age is astonishing when you place her into the book, but it is a fantasy novel, so anything works I suppose (the princess and the frog and beauty and the beast are works of bestiality, no?)
7) you might go into it thinking it's a book for kids, but it absolutely not a book for kids. it has some intense moments.
8) i was recommitted this book as one with a strong, female protagonist and I'm 65% with you on this. Being clumsy or disliking gowns does not necessarily make you a strong, female protagonist but she was wonderfully brave and incredibly stupid, so she might be one I guess
9) We don't really get an answer as to what the heck happened during her naming ceremony

It was fantastical, so give it a go

I have a hard time rating books like these because I know that the opinions expressed in the book aren't that of the author, yet it is very difficult to know for sure that the author is not inserting their reflections into the book.

I will give it the benefit of doubt of course because writing about difficult subject matters would cease if we were to scrutinise the author for expressing them.

It was without a doubt a great read.

I will list some of my annoyances regardless:
- there are black characters and it's important to express that they're black, but, and a big but, it wasn't a single reference, the character just becomes ‘the black character TM'
- a surgical partner says all he remembered of the candidate was how she looked, etc. and not the actual interview and this was actually a positive interaction between the two of them - is there a single woman who would feel good after that statement?
- the cop acting as if he'd healed fragile goods just by spending the night with a character and referring to her as fragile goods
- everything Rizzoli said and did
- internalised misogyny? weird descriptions of assault?
- for it to be remotely okay for the cop to fraternise with the victim
- apparently being referred to as the victim is bad but referring to a patient as a patient is okay

Again, I will chalk all of this to character flaws but be warned that the book might make you feel uncomfortable because you'll realise there isn't a single character for you to like, and I'd presume that that would be important for a book series that recurs and isn't a one-off.

such a fantastic book.

it's a thought experiment taken a million steps further. The complexities it covers are far beyond what you might expect from the scope of the book - morality, humanity, mortality and so much more.

if you come into it looking for yet another zombie novel, you might go out of it surprised, with a lot of questions you never thought you'd be asking.

Such a wonderful book. The movie didn't do it justice.

It's one of my favourite books that crafts a survival tale in an unrealistic scenario into something insanely realistic. It's no doubt that it's hard to convince a reader to fear a being we cannot see, and this book easily accomplishes it. It adds something special by filling the book with human perspective, and showing us how different characters might interact with an unknown entity. The author lets every character shine regardless of their personality.

At the end of the day, do you fear a creature that drives you insane or do you fear the insane for what they might do to you?

what can I say?

one of the very few times a movie was better than a book.

How did this make it into the book?

“...We have enough food left to feed six people for a month. If I was the only one, it would last six months. With a reduced diet I could stretch it to nine. But it'll be seventeen months before I get back.”
“So how would you survive?”
“The supplies wouldn't be the only source of food,” she said.

the book was painful. fiction is something that makes me relax, this book is a full-fledged science fiasco. even scientists have feelings. You're telling me a man on mars doesn't share his feelings? ... beyond him wanting to bond with a Martian goddess?

Venkat is a Hindu, as we're so often reminded when he refers to his gods. is that all that is there to him?

what's Annie's characteristics? she's dumb and she swears.

it's a pretty one-dimensional book, with the only dimension being all science, no substance.

I found it very hard to read - not because it was terribly written, but because it was a little too well-written and the subject matter of domestic abuse hits a little too close to home. The book kept me on my toes, and I loved it.

As for claims of discrimination, we're being walked through a character's thoughts, and if you don't actively opine in your thoughts, then you might as well be an angel from heaven.

I think it's on par with The Lost Man, much much better than the prequel. It was really captivating, and the switch in perspective kept me on my toes. The desperation of all five women really came through, and now I'm wary of participating in nature hikes even if it's with a bunch of people I know..

The book was exhausting with so much to keep track of. There were roughly 35 different characters with at least a dozen different perspectives. Call me slow, but I needed a drawn out flowchart for me to follow the book.

For a book that constantly refers to sexism and misogyny with it functioning as a recurring theme, it sure had those traits deeply woven into all the characters. Maybe that was deliberate, but boy, was it exhausting. The references to technology felt out of place when woven into the mess.

The characters were incredibly unlikeable, but I suppose that seems to be the case with most books these days.

There were sufficient plot twists to keep me happy, some ludicrous, some exhilarating, but it seemed to make up for the exhaustion. If I'm getting worn out, I might as well get a thrill out of it.

It reminds me of Enid Blyton books I read as a child. The nostalgia alone sustains the score.

It wasn't as good a read as ‘the lost man' but this being the author's debut novel makes up for it.

It's a tragic tale that would've been far better when written by the protagonist as an onlooker's perspective instead of a cop's perspective. The clues felt incredibly amateur, for one, and the progression of the story felt forced.

The book left we with a lot of loose ends and a lot to ponder.

the first part of the three parts left much to be desired. i made several attempts to persevere and it didn't feel worth it. the reviews made me come back to it cause it felt like I was missing out. And honestly, the latter halves were much better. it felt incredibly thrilling and i could feel the anxiety and the danger. it was basically a bit of a mind fuck. that's not to say that some bits weren't predictable and some other bits didn't leave me asking ‘why', but the good bits more than made up for it and rendered it a redeemable experience.

i have a love hate relationship with this book. what i love about it, is that it doesn't shy away from adult themes just because of the magical backdrop. however, while a part of me found the way the book was written enthralling, another part of me found it exhausting. It doesn't help that every character's actions felt incredibly selfish. It could have been something amazing, it left me with a taste of what could've been.